Damarion Witten's official visit to Kentucky changed his perspective of the Wildcats

Damarion Witten has already taken multiple unofficial visits to the University of Kentucky, most recently in April, but his official visit to the Wildcats’ campus over the weekend opened his eyes even more to what the program can offer.

Witten is a four-star tight end out of Cleveland (OH) Glenville, considered a top 400 prospect from the class of 2024 according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He’s being heavily recruited by Ohio State, which has found plenty of success over the years with Glenville. But Kentucky is doing its best to pry the 6-foot-2, 205-pounder out of the Buckeye State and down to Lexington.

By Witten’s own account, UK did an excellent job this past weekend in helping make that a reality.

“The OV went great, I loved it and my family also loved it,” Witten told KSR on Monday. “I met the whole coaching staff and a few of the players, they welcomed me and my family with open arms.

“Really the best part of the trip to me is the dinner when we was all together, everyone was bonding really well and I loved the hospitality they showed me and my family. What really stood out to me is the way they showed me how they were gonna use me.”

Had a Great OV to the University Of Kentucky 💙 wanna thank @vincemarrow @cjconrad1 @LiamCoen and @UKCoachStoops for the amazing time 🤞🏾 BBN💙👀? pic.twitter.com/siDQ5Zezpq

— Damarion Witten (@DamarionW1_) June 12, 2023

Witten is the top tight end prospect on Kentucky’s Big Board right now. There’s a good reason why Ohio State — which will receive his second and final (as of right now) official visit the weekend of June 23-25 — is after him so heavily. There is a lot to like about the “mismatch nightmare”. The UK staff views Witten in the mold of 6-foot-3 senior TE Izayah Cummings.

“They say I will be like Cummings, a mismatch nightmare that can cause chaos for defenses,” Witten added.

Witten wasn’t alone for his official visit, either. He was joined by fellow Glenville prospect Fred Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound three-star offensive tackle who is also high on Kentucky’s radar. It was the first OV for both of the rising seniors and UK made a tantalizing impression.

“I had (freshman WR Anthony Brown as my host) and we were talking about how UK is overall and he told me some things that opened my ears about the program and the staff,” Witten said.

Witten is down to a finalists list of Ohio State, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Texas, and Oregon. His official visit to Ohio State in less than two weeks could be critical in Witten’s decision-making process — which he says there is no timeline for. UK certainly made a sound pitch, with Witten adding that the ‘Cats are “close to the top” coming out of the official visit. That being said, beating out the Buckeyes is always a tough ask, but Kentucky is going to be in the mix until the very end.

“This OV was so important to me just because I never got to experience anything like that before and it did change how I think about UK,” Witten said.