Kentucky Football has a Top 20 Recruiting Class

You don’t have to look far to find the Kentucky football program racking up recruiting wins. Despite missing out on WR Samari Reed on Thursday night, the Wildcats have secured commitments in three consecutive days, and a fourth may be on the horizon.

In Dayton, OH, the Fourth of July celebrations included a commitment from 6-foot-8, 290-pound offensive tackle Jermiel Atkins. A three-star offensive tackle, he’s the No. 48 player at his position, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

Atkins was one of dozens of high-major commitments on the Fourth of July. The most notable commitment was Dakorien Moore, the No. 3 overall player in the class who spurned his home state of Texas to play for Dan Lanning at Oregon. All of those announcements reshuffled the deck, creating some major movement in the On3 Industry Team Rankings.

Kentucky’s 2025 class climbed to No. 19 in the national rankings with 17 commitments. Kentucky has had only one finish inside the Top 20 of the team rankings in school history. The 2022 class ranked No. 17 overall.

The Wildcats have received pledges from seven four-star prospects and four Top 200 players, the latter of which is a new high in the Stoops era. Dawayne Galloway fits each category and this afternoon the 17th-ranked cornerback in the class is announcing his decision.

There’s a long way to go until signing day, but adding Galloway will go a long way to ensure Kentucky finishes with another Top 25 recruiting class.

2025 Kentucky Football Recruiting Class

Seven of the 17 commitments hail from the state of Ohio. Kentucky has pledges from the top two in-state players and the fourth-ranked player, Isaac Sowells, could join them later this month. A look at how the 2025 class breaks down by position:

• Defensive Backs: 3
• EDGE/DL: 4
• IOL: 1
• OT: 3
• RB: 1
• QB: 2
• WR: 3

Player	High School	Position	Ranking
Cedric Works	Clayton (Ohio) Northmont	EDGE (6-5, 230)	4-star (No. 144 overall)
Javeon Campbell	Frankfort (Ky.) Western Hills	DL (6-5, 260)	4-star (No. 167 overall)
Marquise Davis	Cleveland (Ohio) Heights	RB (5-11, 200)	4-star (No. 186 overall)
Martels Carter	Paducah (Ky.) Tilghman	S (6-1, 185)	4-star (No. 198 overall)
Kalen Edwards	Dyersburg (Tn.) High	DT (6-4, 325)	4-star (No. 320 overall)
Quintin Simmons	Cincinnati (Ohio) Withrow	WR (6-0, 170)	4-star (No. 328 overall)
Darrin Strey	Paw Paw (Mich.) High	T (6-6, 295)	4-star (No. 397 overall)
Ja’Kayden Ferguson	Missouri City (Texas) Fort Bend Marshall	WR (6-2, 175)	High 3-star (No. 420 overall)
Andrew Purcell	Enterprise (Ala.) High	CB (5-10, 185)	High 3-star (No. 472 overall)
Stone Saunders	Harrisburg (Pa.) Bishop McDevitt	QB (6-0, 205)	3-star (No. 650 overall)
Demarcus Gardner	Cedartown (Ga.) High	CB (6-0, 165)	3-star (No. 674 overall)
Brennen Ward	Gahanna (Ohio) Lincoln	QB (6-2, 205)	3-star (No. 732 overall)
Jermiel Atkins	Dayton (Oh.) Trotwood-Madison	OT (6-8, 290)	3-star (No. 844 overall)
Tucker Kattus	Cincinnati (Ohio) St. Xavier	OL (6-5, 300)	3-star (No. 1,089 overall)
Bryan Auguste	Coconut Creek (Fla.) Monarch	T (6-6, 285)	3-star (No. 1,291 overall)
Nicholas Smith	Loganville (Ga.) Walnut Grove	DL (6-7, 255)	3-star (No. 1,335 overall)
Preston Bowman	Pickerington (Ohio) North	WR (6-0, 196)	3-star (No. 1,375 overall)

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