Henderson County's Saadiq Clements expecting busy summer as stock rises

One of the top high school junior football players from the state of Kentucky is in the midst of watching his stock rise.

Henderson County class of 2023 defensive lineman Saadiq Clements has had himself a busy last few weeks of college visits with plenty more on the way. The 6-foot-3, 280-pound in-state prospect was up at Michigan roughly two weeks ago, where he later quickly an offer from the Wolverines coaching staff afterward. Clements is now up to double-digit offers from Divison I schools, highlighted by the likes of Purdue, Louisville, Florida State, Indiana, and, of course, the Kentucky Wildcats.

In fact, UK, spearheaded by associate head coach Vince Marrow, was the first Power 5 program to extend an offer to the rising lineman, doing so back in the spring of 2021. Clements had an impressive junior season for Henderson County after UK offered, but it was his time down in San Antonio during January’s All-American Bowl where he popped on the national radar. He participated in the combine portion of the event and was named an honorable mention among the over 600 nationwide recruits in attendance. Florida State and Michigan clearly liked what they saw, eventually extending scholarships.

The buzz around Clements is still growing, too. His father, Edward Clements, recently told KSR that his son will take a visit to check out the Seminoles campus this weekend before heading to Columbus the weekend after to soak in Ohio State’s spring game. The Buckeyes have yet to offer Clements but continue to maintain steady contact. Notre Dame and Alabama have made initial contact, as well, while Georgia plans to come and watch him play spring football in a couple of weeks.

All that being said, Kentucky appears to have the inside track at this point in Clements’ recruitment, although there could still be a long way to go. He’s been to the Lexington-based campus four times already now, including a visit a few weekends ago. The familiarity with the coaching staff has been a big factor so far for Clements. Both he and his father are natives of Henderson County, which is still a three-plus hour drive from Lexington, but close enough to make day trips.

One thing is clear though: this summer will be a critical stretch in his recruitment.

Big kid, quiet personality

Clements himself doesn’t do many interviews with the media, but not necessarily on purpose — he’s just quiet by nature. Take a skim through his Twitter page and you’ll see a total of 18 tweets, most being pictures of schools that have offered him. The only reason he even has a Twitter is that some of the folks at Kentucky suggested he make one. He’s one of the rare high schoolers without an Instagram presence.

It sure hasn’t hurt him when it comes to getting discovered for his on-field talents, though.

“My son has been the same since day one,” Edward Clements told KSR about Saadiq. “Ain’t changed a bit. Humble, quiet about everything, he don’t talk about (recruiting) much.

“He don’t boast about it, he don’t brag about it, he’s just a 16-year-old kid.”

Another thing that hasn’t changed is the size of Saadiq, who has been taller than his dad since he was 10 years old and started playing contact football when he was in the first grade. Edward remembered an instance when he and his son arrived for practice when Saadiq was younger and Edward’s friends jokingly asked if Saadiq was the one who drove them there.

The younger Clements combines that size with unorthodox speed for someone of his stature. He’s previously been clocked running a 4.7-second 40-yard dash at Kentucky. He’s filled into that size quite nicely as a soon-to-be high school senior and Kentucky will look to keep him close to home.