Kentucky is keeping pace in SEC blue-chip recruiting race

College football is a talent acquisition game. Under Mark Stoops, Kentucky has done a great job at developing three-star prospects into big-time players, but games are often won on Saturdays due to signatures landed on signing day. The 10th year head coach recognizes this.

“I don’t look at it as the recruiting class makes it or breaks it, but I do look at it as maybe there’s a game-changing few players who can take you to another level, and we have to get some of those,” Stoops told The Athletic before the 2021 season. “We have a solid core, a solid foundation, and we develop players. Now you do look for some of those guys who can change the digits on the scoreboard. We have a good nucleus of good football players, but you look around the top echelon of the SEC, and you see some real freaks that are changing the outcome of the game.”

In the class of 2022, Kentucky found a few game-changing players. That year, the Wildcats signed a pair of top-100 prospects — Barion Brown and Kiyaunta Goodwin — and inked seven top-300 recruits to give the program its best recruiting class of all time. For Kentucky to continue its climb up the SEC ladder, it will take more classes like that.

Unfortunately, the 2023 cycle has provided some landmines. There are current NIL funding issues that the program is attempting to get through, and the home recruiting base has not provided many options when it comes to blue-chip talent. Despite those issues helping create a slow start on the recruiting trail, the Wildcats are still remaining competitive against their SEC peers.

We’re just over five months away from signing day, and the average recruiting class in the SEC — Oklahoma and Texas were included — is at 11.9 verbal commitments. As a whole, the average is somewhere around the 50 percent threshold when you consider that each school is going to leave some room for transfer additions. Therefore, we’re officially halfway through this recruiting cycle.

In the race for blue-chip prospects — top-300 recruits in the On3 Consensus for this exercise — Kentucky is doing a good job of keeping pace. Let’s break down where everyone stands in the SEC.

Blue-chip distribution

— 9: Georgia (4 top-100 prospects), Texas (4 top-100 prospects), LSU (0 top-100 prospects)

— 7: Alabama (4 top-100 prospects)

— 5: Florida (0 top-100 prospects)

— 4: Tennessee (3 top-100 prospects)

— 3: Arkansas (1 top-100 prospect,), Auburn (0 top-100 prospects)

— 2: Oklahoma (2 top-100 prospects), Texas A&M (2 top-100 prospects), Kentucky (0 top-100 prospects), Ole Miss (0 top-100 prospects), South Carolina (0 top-100 prospects)

— 1: Missouri (0 top-100 prospects)

— 0: Mississippi State and Vanderbilt

Kentucky has recovered from iffy start

Kentucky currently has an average star rating of 86.82 and when using a four-year average over the last four recruiting cycles, that would land the Wildcats at 33.5 nationally in class ranking. Luckily, the Wildcats are at just nine commitments and have plenty of room for upward growth.

Thanks to landing top-200 wide receiver Shamar Porter out of Middle Tennessee and recently scooping up top-250 defensive back Avery Stuart out of Southeast Alabama, Kentucky has some solid star power to headline the class directly out of the traditional SEC footprint.

There is much work to be done, but Kentucky firmly finds itself in a battle to remain in the middle of the pack in the SEC recruiting wars. That’s not a bad place to be entering a year with sky-high expectations. Wins on Saturdays this fall could lead to more doors being opened on the recruiting trail. There is room available for improvement.

Kentucky is battling on the trail as the season approaches. Do not panic about this recruiting class just yet.