Vince Marrow hints Jacob Lacey's visit went well for Kentucky

Kentucky still has business to take care of this season and new heights to reach. An victory over ranked Mississippi State was a step in the right direction and a win in Knoxville after the bye week would bring back all the big-time dreams that were crushed after suffering back-to-back losses at Ole Miss and vs. South Carolina.

That doesn’t mean, though, the staff isn’t looking ahead to 2023, working to build yet another competitive roster in the SEC. That”s where recruiting comes in, with UK pushing for top high school prospects and individuals in the transfer portal.

One of the programs top targets? Notre Dame defensive tackle transfer Jacob Lacey, who stepped away from the program after four games with the Irish this season to preserve his redshirt and find a new home for next season and beyond.

A native of Bowling Green and a product of South Warren High School, Kentucky immediately emerged as a serious option for Lacey. He quickly scheduled a visit to Lexington, attending the Wildcats’ matchup against Mississippi State on Saturday — certainly a great game to catch.

How did the visit go? Associate head coach Vince Marrow obviously can’t mention Lacey by name, but hinted that things went extremely well in an appearance on 630 WLAP’s Sunday Morning Sports Talk this week.

And he says Big Blue Nation is a big reason for it.

“We had a really important guy. Can’t say his name, but I think y’all know. He’s in the portal and he visited this weekend,” Marrow said. “His parents could not believe the atmosphere, how the fans are. (Mark) Stoops said it, the way we played last week was really no excuse for that. How they showed up, they were the 12th man on defense. We’ve got some of the best fans in college football. Everybody says that, but we really have some diehard college football fans.”

Lacey was the headliner, but he wasn’t the only recruit on campus. Four-star CB Ja’Keem Jackson, four-star DL Kendrick Gilbert, three-star S commit Jaremiah Anglin, three-star OL commit Koby Keenum, three-star RB Jamarion Wilcox, three-star ATH commit Ty Bryant and three-star WR commit Jakob Dixon made up the top 2023 prospects in attendance. Four-star WRs David Washington Jr. and TJ Engleman, along with three-star WR Brandon Rehmann and unranked OT Dane Wleklinski represented the 2024 targets on campus. 2025 standouts Mason Kelly (QB) and Jesse Stump (ATH) were also there.

Needless to say, it was a wildly important recruiting weekend for Kentucky.

All in all, a major success, as the Wildcats took care of business on the field while Big Blue Nation took care of business in the stands.

“I know the recruits — we had a ton of recruits in for South Carolina, then a whole bunch this week. A lot of guys committed other places,” Marrow said. “I’ll tell you right now, the atmosphere, the CatWalk, the crowd. I tell you what, this is a great fanbase and I wouldn’t trade it for nothing. I know a lot of the feedback from the parents was like ‘Wow.’ Especially some of the ones that it was their first time being there. They were like, ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ We have to give all the credit to the fans, they came out and supported. We’re going to finish this thing right for them.”

It was a long list of talent, but none more important than Lacey, the former No. 3 player in Kentucky in 2019. He originally chose the Fighting Irish over Clemson, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, and Tennessee. As a senior at South Warren, he won a 5A State Championship with the Spartans. The 5A Player of the Year totaled 80 tackles, 34.0 TFLs, 14.0 sacks, four forced fumbles and one fumble recovery in his senior season of Kentucky high school football.

A 6-foot-2, 280-pound interior lineman, Lacey played in 38 career games at Notre Dame, tallying 35 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks. In Marcus Freeman‘s first win as a head coach, the Bowling Green native starred, recording two sacks in a dominant performance in the trenches.

Preserving his redshirt season, Lacey will have two years of eligibility remaining at his next stop.

Will that be in Lexington? It’s a strong possibility.