Kentucky Football building early relationship with 2024 DB TyShun White

Kentucky Football’s defensive backs coach, Chris Collins, went down to Georgia over the summer and extended a trio of offers to sophomores at Buford High School — located roughly 45 minutes outside of Atlanta. Buford has a track record of producing high-level football stars, most recently developing Isaiah Bond and Jake Pope into four-star prospects and class of 2022 Alabama commits.

Back in August, Collins offered class of 2024 Buford prospects Khalil “KJ” Bolden, Eddrick Houston, and TyShun “Ty” White. All three are considered rising stars in the state of Georgia, with Bolden already ranked by the On3 Consensus as the No. 7 overall prospect in the nation. Houston isn’t far behind Bolden, ranking No. 22 overall by the On3 Consensus.

The latter of the threesome, TyShun White, hasn’t checked in on the On3 Consensus just yet, but don’t confuse that for a lack of talent. Rivals already has him tabbed as a four-star and the fourth-best safety in the country. His recruitment is heating up as the spring is set to begin with several high-profile programs quickly getting involved. Of course, Kentucky is one of those schools.

White, a 6-foot-0, 175-pound safety who doubles as a track star, was in Lexington on Thursday for his first visit to the UK campus. He was able to meet with the new coaching hires, offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello and offensive line coach Zach Yesner, while also familiarizing himself with the rest of the usual staff members. White met with head coach Mark Stoops and defensive coordinator Brad White while chalking it up with Collins throughout his unofficial visit.

💙BAGELBOY x BBN💙@Coach_Davis22 @CoachC_Collins pic.twitter.com/926sKbUSvs

— TyShun White “Ty” (@Thecautionchild) March 10, 2022

While on campus, White told KSR after his visit that he was thoroughly impressed with the facilities Kentucky had to offer. As all recruits do, he took a tour of the campus before meeting with the team nutritionist and visiting the learning center. White was particularly impressed with “The Kentucky Road” initiative, which is designed to help student-athletes who attended UK even decades after they leave.

Just a sophomore, his recruitment is still in the early stages, but it’s been picking up with intensity as of late. White will visit Georgia Tech this weekend, was at North Carolina last weekend, and will take a trip to Tennessee in early April. Upcoming visits to Boston College, Penn State, and Alabama are also on the docket. White’s offer sheet hasn’t stopped growing for a while now, either.

Along with Kentucky, he holds scholarships from over two dozen schools, including the likes of Penn State, Arkansas, Nebraska, Florida State, Ole Miss, Texas, Louisville, West Virginia, among many others. Alabama, Georgia, Miami, Auburn and Oregon are also expressing interest.

His recruitment is still wide open and will likely stay that way until college coaches can more easily connect with him this fall. But Kentucky has clearly made an early impression on him and he’s taken notice. One of the main aspects of a program he’s looking at is how the people in and around the team interact with each other. UK checked that box after a first impression.

“You walk around school, how do people treat you and how they greet you and stuff like that?” White told KSR on Friday. “The staff, how they recruit you. Everybody is gonna be recruited nicely but when you get on school are they still treating the players the same way?“

White told KSR that Kentucky is emphasizing the team’s need for more high-caliber safeties and he is one of the handful of high school sophomores to make the early shortlist. He’ll be someone to keep an eye on as his recruitment heats up going into his junior season.