Need to Know: 2 New Kentucky Football Commits, Andrew Purcell and Ja'Kayden Ferguson

The 2025 Kentucky football recruiting class grew from seven to nine following another busy official visit weekend in Lexington.

It’s easy to get lost in the sauce when it comes to keeping up with football recruiting. Allow me to hit the high notes on the two new additions — Andrew Purcell and Ja’Kayden Ferguson — and explain why this is a pretty big damn deal.

Significant Coaching Staff Wins

Vince Marrow makes $1.2 million a year to serve as Mark Stoops’ primary recruiter. He accounts for about half of every class, including many of the heavy hitters at the top of the recruiting rankings. He’s doing that again this year with five of the nine commits, including the top three players in the class.

One cannot successfully recruit in the SEC with just one Vince Marrow.

To successfully build a roster, other assistants must find a few starters in each class. Vince takes care of the quantity so the others must focus on quality. Jon Sumrall, John Schlarman, and Eric Wolford mastered that art. Kentucky desperately needs more of that and this weekend they got it with a pair of Top 500 players.

Daikiel Shorts brought Mid-Atlantic and Texas connections, but it was unclear how effectively he could bring in players from those areas. His first recruiting win is talented pass-catcher from Houston. That’s big.

Chris Collins showed early in his career that he was capable of getting big-name prospects on campus, but struggled to seal the deal. He got to the finish line on Quaysheed Scott and it looks like it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, just in a good way. Purcell took official visits to Georgia and Miami, and was scheduled to visit Tennessee this weekend.

The Wildcats have had success recruiting in unconventional areas, but you still need to beat your SEC competition for players in the SEC footprint. Collins and Shorts did just that this weekend.

Purcell Already Plays for the Wildcats

I promised to hit the bullet points hard, then wrote six paragraphs in one subheading. This is simple enough: Andrew Purcell’s Enterprise High School has the best logo. Time for Kentucky to bring this one back.

Another Big-Time Kentucky WR to Commit?

Ferguson has a close compadre who’s one of the best wide receivers in America. Andrew Marsh joined Ferguson for an unofficial visit to Kentucky this spring. Marsh is a Top 100 talent ranked as the tenth-best wide receiver in America. His official visit to Kentucky begins tomorrow and Ferguson is already pushing for Marsh to join him.

“Every day I’m texting him, ‘Commit, commit, commit,’” Ferguson told KSR+.

Purcell has Elite Ball Skills

Kentucky prioritizes size when recruiting cornerbacks. The critique is that those guys rarely possess the ball skills that turn into interceptions and PBUs once they arrive in Lexington. Dru Phillips just got drafted without ever recording an interception at Kentucky. I don’t think that will be an issue for Andrew Purcell.

While scanning through his junior highlight reel, I counted six picks. Some were layups that he took advantage of, but I appreciated that they came from a variety of different coverages and many were in the red zone. This one really popped while going one-on-one in man coverage.

Next Level Stuff™ from Andrew Purcell.

Man coverage, beat on the double move but doesn't lose the rep. Flips hips, accelerates to recover, makes a contested INT in the end zone. pic.twitter.com/hhJDUMntuq

— Nick Roush (@RoushKSR) June 17, 2024

Ferguson is a Ball Player Playing Big-Time Football

Today was my introduction to the enormity that is Texas High School Football. They have six classes and each one has two divisions that crown a state champion annually. Fort Bend Marshall is in Class 5A Division 2, aka the fourth-largest in Texas. The program is consistently playing for state titles and putting multiple players in the Power Four.

During Ferguson’s freshman season, Chris Marshall starred at Fort Bend Marshall. The five-star wide receiver is the son of Marshall Marshall. That’s a whole lot of Marshalls.

Anyway, back to Ferguson, you saw his incredible catch at OT7. Watch his entire highlight reel and you’ll understand that those kinds of plays are not uncommon for the future Kentucky Wildcat.