Kendrick Gilbert, 4-star defensive lineman, commits to Purdue over Kentucky

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On3 image — Photo courtesy of EJ Holland | On3

Kentucky football just missed out on a big-time recruit.

On Sunday morning, four-star class of 2023 defensive lineman Kendrick Gilbert committed to the Purdue Boilermakers. Considered a Top 200 prospect and Top 25 DL by On3, the Indianapolis (IN) Cathedral product chose Purdue over the likes of Kentucky, Iowa, and LSU.

It came down to UK and Purdue in the end, with the Boilermakers pulling out a significant recruiting win.

🚨BREAKING🚨 4-star DL Kendrick Gilbert has committed to Purdue🚂

Read: https://t.co/49rmMwbwZf pic.twitter.com/wzU62TJ1ZJ
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) August 28, 2022

Gilbert was initially expected to make his announcement in early July, but he ultimately delayed that decision nearly two months. He took official visits to all of his top four schools the month before in June. Kentucky managed to get Gilbert on campus three times since October, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from leaving the state of Indiana.

So far in this cycle, Purdue has headed south to land a pair of Kentucky defensive line targets: Louisville (KY) St. Xavier product Micah Carter and Henderson (KY) County prospect Saadiq Clements. Unfortunately, the ‘Cats couldn’t turn the tables with Gilbert, who is now Purdue’s top-ranked recruit.

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This might not be the last we hear of Kentucky at Cathedral High School, either. The Wildcats are also pursuing the private school powerhouse’s quarterback, Danny O’Neil, a 2023 three-star passer.

Kentucky currently has 15 hard commits for the ’23 class — led by a trio of four-star prospects — which ranks 33rd in the country and 10th in the SEC. UK has one commit already on the defensive line in three-star EDGE Tommy Ziesmer out of Boyle County.