First Down Kentucky: Friday Recruiting News

Happy Friday! It’s been a weird one at Kentucky Sports Radio’s Louisville HQ. Storms knocked the wifi out of order for the day while jets screamed across the sky ahead of Saturday’s Thunder Over Louisville air show. It’s not the ideal work environment, but we still have some Kentucky football recruiting news to get to today.

Kentucky Ahead of Schedule

Summer episodes of 11 Personnel have featured a common theme over the last two years. “Why is Kentucky behind on the recruiting trail?” The coffers were not filled with commitments as recruits across the country made announcements around the Fourth of July. There was anxiety among football recruiting diehards. Kentucky had to close hard or get left behind. Fortunately, they have finished strong, but this year fans will be sweating a lot less over the summer.

When the open recruiting period began this week, Kentucky had the 31st-ranked class in 2025. It’s headlined by four-star wide receiver Quintin Simmons and a pair of quarterbacks, Stone Saunders and Brennen Ward. Each passer was on campus last week for the Kentucky spring game.

Now the Cats are closing in on another headliner. Marquise Davis is set to take an unofficial visit to Lexington for the second straight weekend. Vince Marrow doesn’t win every recruiting battle, but there are usually 2-3 outstanding Ohio talents he puts in his crosshairs and refuses to take no for an answer. The Big Dog appears to be battle-ready well ahead of the busy summer recruiting season.

Kentucky a Finalist for Top 200 Florida CB

Speaking of recruiting class headliners, the Cats are cooking up something with one of the best cornerbacks in the 2025 recruiting class. Before Graceson Littleton hits the road this summer, the Florida cornerback has narrowed his list of schools. Kentucky made the top ten alongside Florida, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Rutgers, Iowa, Penn State, Kansas State, UCF, and Alabama. A four-star prospect from Tampa, Littleton is the No. 111 player in the 2025 class, according to On3.

New 2026 Offensive Line Offers on the Table

Upon his arrival in Lexington, Eric Wolford hit the ground running with recruits in the 2025 class. Once spring practice concluded, Wolford set his sights on the 2026 class. Today he issued scholarship offers to three rising juniors.

Offensive tackle Tre Aiken is a 6-foot-4, 285-pound from South Carolina who has an offer from Florida. Breck Kolojay of IMG Academy is already a four-star prospect, ranked as the No. 178 overall player in the 2026 recruiting class. Gabriel Osenda is a 6-foot-7 offensive tackle who could be a top 250 prospect by the time he’s ready to sign on the dotted line.

Austin Alexander will not be a Wildcat

Austin Alexander was once the top-ranked player in the state of Kentucky in the 2025 recruiting class. Even though he’s been leap-frogged by a few others, the Cooper High School EDGE is still a Top 300 player. Today he announced his commitment to North Carolina. Kentucky offered him a scholarship, but there was never real traction between the two parties. Best of luck to him in Chapel Hill.

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