All-American Bowl Notebook: Kentucky performs well on big stage

On Saturday afternoon, four Kentucky signees played their final football game as high school athletes. Each looked the part in San Antonio, Texas, at the All-American Bowl.

Both Barion Brown and Kiyaunta Goodwin drew starting assignments for the East, and Keaten Wade played a ton of off-ball linebacker. On the West, Nik Hall was a late addition and the Texas product had some bright moments for the winning team.

KSR watched every snap and has some instant takeaways from a few members of Kentucky’s best recruiting class of all time.

Barion Brown has playmaking juice

Kentucky recruited Goodwin for a very long time, but getting into Metro Nashville and landing a signature from high four-star Barion Brown may have been the most surprising development for Kentucky during this past recruiting cycle.

The 6-1, 173-pound wideout had legitimate interest from Alabama and Georgia. Meanwhile, TCU once looked like the favorite at one time. Yet, offensive coordinator Liam Coen recorded his first big high school recruiting win by landing the blue-chipper.

Against some of the best high school players in the country, Brown did not disappoint in the Alamodome.

Nice gain here by Kentucky commit Barion Brown as makes a few defenders miss. Penn State commit Drew Allar is the QB for East. He’s been a bit inconsistent accuracy wise, but does have a strong arm.

pic.twitter.com/9cybyWput2

— CFB Blitz (@BlitzCfb) January 8, 2022

Brown opened the game with a kickoff return and was Penn State signee Drew Allar‘s top target until leaving the game in the first half with a foot injury. When featured, Brown flashed some strong yard after catch ability with change of direction combined with some wiggle in the open field.

The top-100 prospect proved that he is more than a speedster as Brown made many plays in the short-to-intermediate game. At one point, the wideout reversed field to make something out of nothing for the East squad.

The hype has increased after the all-star week. Barion Brown was one of the best wideouts at the event and will compete for early playing time once on campus this summer.

Kiyaunta Goodwin’s play strength was on full display

After a long recruitment, Kentucky was able to get a signature from five-star recruit Kiyaunta Goodwin, and the top-20 prospect will be on campus soon for the spring semester.

Expectations are for the blue-chipper to come and compete for a starting position at offensive tackle on the Big Blue Wall. Goodwin certainly looks the part.

The five-star was a starter for the East team at left tackle and certainly looked like a potential contributor. Goodwin’s play strength was on full display as he stoned any rusher as soon as his hands were locked on.

Unfortunately, there was not much shown in the running game as the concepts were kept pretty vanilla. However, Goodwin has the chance to be dominant at that part of the game thanks to the sheer power and grip strength the young player already possesses.

As expected, the pass protection will need some work as some of the sets weren’t always smooth. However, there are a lot of tools available and the highest-ranked signee of the Mark Stoops era did not disappoint.

Nik Hall flashes positional athleticism

A late addition to the game, four-star offensive tackle Nik Hall showed up late but was still used often by the West squad. Coming off the bench, Hall played left tackle and had moments of both good and bad.

The Austin (Texas) Akins product has a very high ceiling and can move in space. However, it’s clear that some play strength must be added in the weight room before the prospect is ready to compete at the SEC level.

Hall has some traits that cannot be taught thanks to his size, length, and movement ability. The 2022 product will need some time to season, but his ceiling is just about as high as anyone else in this signing class.

Keaten Wade looks the part while playing out of position

Due to this being an all-star game, some rules were altered. Teams were not allowed to blitz being the biggest one. Add that in with both teams playing a four-down structure on defense and that had a huge impact on Keaten Wade.

The signee out of Spring Hill (Tenn.) Summit will play EDGE for Kentucky, but Wade was forced to play nothing but off-ball linebacker in the All-American Bowl. That made this somewhat of a different evaluation period for the young player.

Yet, Wade’s movement skills were on full display as the blue-chipper was comfortable playing in space and can run well for his position. Wade’s pass-rushing moves weren’t shown, but the top-250 prospect looks the part.

Scouting Notes

• Clemson signee Cade Klubnik stole the show in the exhibition game. The Austin (Texas) Westlake product has big-time accuracy to go with off-platform playmaking and a high feel for the game. Klubnik made a couple of difficult throws for big gains and was the best quarterback on Saturday. Arm strength and the ability to drive the ball vertically is a concern, but there’s no denying that Klubnik should be able to push D.J. Uiagalelei as a true freshman.
• Playing next to Goodwin at left guard was a one-time Kentucky target. Tegra Tshabola was locked in at left guard and looked like one of the better linemen at the event. The Ohio State signee can anchor and moves well for the position. In a loaded class, don’t be surprised if this top-100 prospect becomes one of the better players in Columbus.
• The game was filled with impact defensive line talent, but Penn State signee Dani Dennis-Sutton jumped off the screen. At 260 pounds, Dennis-Sutton shows an explosive striking ability to go along with burst as a rusher. Expect the top-50 recruit to contribute for new defensive coordinator Manny Diaz.
• Georgia signee Gunner Stockton set about 800 high school records while playing for Tiger (Ga.) Rabun County, but his rushing ability was what stood out. The top-100 prospect led a scoring drive by mainly using his legs. Stockton runs with excellent pad level, has solid vision, and enough change of direction to make him dangerous in the open field. If the Bulldogs want some wildcat formation flavor, Stockton could give them something.
• In the Citrus Bowl, Kentucky faced an Iowa defense that was technically sound with playmakers on each level. In the class of 2022, top-100 signees Aaron Graves and Xavier Nwankpa both looked the part. The in-star products could contribute on the defensive line and at safety as rookies.
• Eliah Drinkwitz had a banner class for Missouri, and DJ Wesolak was a big part of it. The in-state linebacker was forced to play some off-ball linebacker, but that did not stop the edge rusher from showing off his explosive athleticism. Wesolak has all of the traits to be an impact pass rusher in the SEC.