Auburn, Kentucky meet again on recruiting trail

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Next Thursday, class of 2022 four-star wide receiver Omari Kelly will announce his final destination as his recruitment comes to an end. Once again, Kentucky finds itself facing Auburn in a recruiting battle.

Since Jon Sumrall came to Kentucky from Ole Miss after the 2018 season, the Wildcats have worked hard at developing recruiting inroads in the state of Alabama and other regions of the Deep South. Due to this, Kentucky quite often finds itself going up against Auburn for prospects.

In preparation for Kelly’s announcement, KSR is highlighting three recent recruiting battles between these two SEC programs. Expect more to occur in the future as both coaching staffs continue to swim in the same waters on the recruiting trail.

Jeremy Flax

A junior college product in the class of 2020, Jeremy Flax was a four-star prospect out of Independence (Kan.) Community College. A Detroit native, Flax had an obvious relationship with former Kentucky staffer Steve Clinkscale. Despite that, Auburn still went after the junior college product as Gus Malzahn looked to bolster his offensive line sooner rather than later. Kentucky was able to win out in the head-to-head battle.

Flax was running with the ones at right tackle in last week’s open practice as the redshirt sophomore is pushing for a starting role on the Big Blue Wall this season.

Joko Willis

Another junior college product, Willis was teammates with Flax at Independence (Kan.) Community College and was committed to Kentucky for eight months before backing off his pledge. The 6-foot-3 linebacker quickly flipped to Auburn and is going through his first training camp with the Tigers.

Trevin Wallace

One of Kentucky’s biggest out-of-state recruiting wins in recent memory, Trevin Wallace was a high four-star linebacker that decommitted from Boston College. Quickly, Wallace saw his stock skyrocket as a high school senior last fall. South Georgia has always been a pipeline recruiting area for the Auburn Tigers, and the SEC West program might have landed Wallace if Malzahn was not fired. Instead, the transition gave Kentucky a window, and Sumrall was able to strike.

The blue-chipper is now in Lexington for his first fall camp and could push for playing time at either off-ball linebacker spot in Brad White’s defense.