4-star DL Dominic Kirks cancels official visit to Kentucky

Just a couple of weeks ago, Kentucky was “very high” on the list of college options for four-star defensive lineman Dominic Kirks. But on Sunday, he announced that he’ll no longer take his official visit to Lexington.

Kirks, who was previously set to officially visit UK the weekend of June 9-11, tweeted that he has canceled the trip and did not indicate if he would reschedule. Considered the No. 406 prospect and the No. 37 overall DL in the class of 2024, per the On3 Industry Ranking, Kirks just wrapped up an official visit to Pittsburgh on Saturday.

The Panthers lead in his recruitment according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM), holding a 37.9 percent chance to land the Cleveland, OH product following his cancelation of the Kentucky OV. The only other official visit locked into place for Kirks is to Washington the weekend of June 16-18. As of this post, that trip is still on track to happen.

I will no longer be going on an official visit to The University Of Kentucky June 9-11th. @AllenTrieu @ChadSimmons_ @RivalsFriedman

— Dominic “DK” Kirks ✞ (@Domkirks) June 4, 2023

Kirks had unofficially visited Kentucky in the past and told On3’s Chad Simmons last month that he was talking with associate head coach Vince Marrow and defensive line coach Anwar Stewart. UK offered the 6-foot-5, 250-pound lineman on April 26 and got him on campus for a visit in June 2022.

“Coach (Vince) Marrow really reaches out a lot. I’m starting to build a relationship with the defensive line coach (Anwar Stewart) and my head coach, he knows their coaches a lot. He trusts them a lot, so his word matters to me and I really trust I can build a great relationship with them,” Kirks told On3. “I’ve already been down there. It’s SEC football, that’s the best football in my opinion. You wouldn’t want to miss out on SEC football because of the development and they get players drafted.”

The timing of Kirks canceling his Kentucky visit is certainly interesting and could mean things went well on his trip to Pittsburgh. But even without Kirks, UK is still expecting a massive group of high-level prospects to visit on June 9-11.