Stoops Confident in Signing Day Haul
Mark Stoops doesn’t pay all that much to recruiting rankings. He has little interest comparing Kentucky’s latest signing class to ones of the past either.
“That’s up to y’all (the media), I guess,” Stoops said. “You could look at it and see.”
What Stoops does care about is the makeup of UK’s 2020 signing class.
“I could tell you I am very confident in this group,” Stoops said. “I really feel very strong about this group, both as football players and probably more importantly as young men and what they do away from the field and the leadership that I feel that we have within this group.”
On Saturday, Stoops and his staff solidified the core of their eighth class, with 20 players making their commitments formal. The group includes 11 offensive players and nine defenders. Ten states are represented, led by Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky with four players apiece.
Though they might not matter much to Stoops, recruiting rankings do suggest this is certainly in contention to best class he has signed. As of mid-afternoon on Wednesday, Rivals ranks UK at 20th nationally, ESPN 25th and 247Sports 23rd. According to Rivals, seven Wildcat signees rank as four stars and one (defensive lineman Justin Rogers) is a five-star player who is the No. 15 overall player in the class.
“You heard me talk many times about build, select and develop,” Stoops said, “and as we get better and continue to recruit we can be more selective and make sure we are recruiting the players that best fit the University of Kentucky and best fit our organization.”
The strength of the class is in the trenches, with five offensive linemen, four defensive linemen and one outside linebacker. Eight of the 10 are rated as four-star players or better.
“I think it’s a really good class, when you look at that, if you’re looking at the o-line and d-line,” Stoops said. “Offensive line with five guys and five quality players there. And then defensive line we have three, if you put (outside linebacker) Sam (Anaele) in that group, who is a really big guy, much like a Josh Allen, you have four along the front right there.”
Players at those positions and of that caliber (and size) are the kind of building blocks that can serve as the foundation for the championship runs Kentucky is trying to make. Quarterbacks are a big deal on that front, and UK has two of those in this class. One is a long-time commit from Lexington in Beau Allen, the other a transfer from Auburn in Joey Gatewood who was a highly touted dual-threat prospect out of high school two years ago.
“That was a big, big piece of this recruiting class to sign Beau,” Stoops said. “He was extremely important to us for a long time. And really built strong relationships with him and his family and really important to have him in our program. So, we’re grateful to have him and looking forward to big things from Beau.
“The addition of Joey Gatewood was also really important, when that opportunity arose just a month or two ago and we started recruiting him and where we were at with quarterback this year, it was important. We never want to be caught thin again with departures or with injury.”
UK managed to overcome thinness at quarterback this season and extend its bowl streak to four years. That added to the success the Wildcats have enjoyed under Stoops, which is now paving the way for success on the trail.
“These guys know the history that we’re going to bowl games and won a New Year’s Day bowl game a year ago and won 10 games and beat Penn State and going to a bowl game this year and overcome some adversity and still a fun program to be around,” Stoops said. “That’s what they know.”
Stoops still has his sights on parlaying that success into another couple additions to this class. Based on Wednesday’s haul, there’s reason to believe he’ll succeed.
“We don’t have a hard time,” Stoops said. “And I told you day one when I walked in here, my first press conference, that we were going to recruit the best players we can and recruit the best players in the country. Doesn’t mean we’re going to get every one of them but we’re certainly going to battle.”
