Steven Soles Explains why Kentucky was a Perfect Fit

Steven Soles has been a productive EDGE for a state championship team. He knows how to succeed at the position, but he doesn’t necessarily have the desired size that teams are looking for at the next level. Some call him a tweener. Kentucky coaches compare him to one of their most productive havoc producers of the 21st century.

Listed at 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, Soles punches above his weight against high-level competition. Last fall he tallied 17 sacks for Powell High School, the defending Class 5A State Champions. His production garnered interest from schools like Alabama, Miami and Virginia Tech, but it seemed as though many were hesitant to go all in on the tweener. Kentucky was not at all.

Last week the Wildcats invited the three-star talent to Lexington for an unofficial visit. Mike Stoops showed exactly how the Wildcats would use Steven Soles by pulling up tape of Boogie Watson. From 2017-20 the undersized edge tallied 28.5 tackles for loss and 18.5 sacks, the fifth-most ever by a Wildcat.

“Once I got there and seen how they see my fit in the scheme and how versatile I can be, and not just be grounded as an edge rusher per se — I can live up here, here or there — it’s really just the versatility,” Steven Soles said ahead of his announcement on the No Playbook Podcast.

“They’ll let me be an athlete, rush the passer and move around the field to make plays. It’s really just that, maximizing what God has given me.”

The first highlight of Watson’s career was a goal line stand at South Carolina as an inside linebacker. He tallied plenty of sacks opposite of Josh Allen as the Cats’ Sam linebacker, the same position Jordan Wright primarily played over the last few years. Assignments vary drastically on a down-to-down basis, asking the player to drop into coverage, rush the passer or set the edge in the run game. Soles is confident he can fill that role at Kentucky.

“It’s a top three defense in the country. The versatility I’ll be able to showcase in their defense,” he said. “Not only having the stigma as an Edge rusher, they showed me some statistics of former people he’s coached that were similar in my height and size that did exactly what I can do — rush the passer excellent and be a great football player on the field, open space, covering, big hits, causing trouble on defense in general. Mike Stoops laid it out perfectly for me and I couldn’t say no to that type of offer.”

Adam Luckett breaks down exactly what that fit looks like in the KSR Film Room. You can hear more from Steven Soles and watch his commitment to Kentucky on the No Playbook Podcast.