Saturday Night UK Football Notes

It appears all five recruits from Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain, GA are on UK's campus this weekend. Several people have emailed me and told me they saw them at the game, including Michael Thornton. Three of the five have already committed and we know UK wants Thornton. The x-factor here in my opinion is Chris Sharpe. The Cats have been on again and off again with Sharpe.

Now, I'm probably going to catch some grief over this, but would you rather have Chris Sharpe or Anterio Sloan? Yes, Sloan is a 4-star recruit, but don't you think building a pipeline to Stephenson is a bigger deal? In my opinion, Anterio Sloan would have to be a ton better than Chris Sharpe or it doesn't make sense. It's also possible that UK will offer Sharpe a contingent offer (based on Thornton's decision). Those are far and few between, but it's possible.

Larry Vaught reported today that Alex Smith (4-star TE) from Cincinnati was in attendance at the UK game. Smith had originally committed to Cincinnati, but then decommitted and chose UNC over UK. It appears the staff hasn't given up on him and wouldn't rule out another change of heart with Joker Phillips being the new head coach.

Based on his comments during the press conference, Joker Phillips feels that both Mike Summers and David Tuner will impact the 2010 recruiting class. "If not we would have waited (until after signing day) to hire them".

Joker also told the media in regards to taking additional commitments, "Now we won't just take anybody. We want better than what we have. But we have some time to wait on some really good football players".

My favorite comment by Joker during the entire press conference was regarding star rankings of recruits, "We're not worried about stars". Joker went on to talk about how UK made players like Trevard Lindley and Jeremy Jarmon better football players.

The Cats have approx 12 scholarships available for 2011, therefore the staff can afford to be picky in the 2010 class. There is no need to burn a scholarship if there is any doubt about a player. By the way, the 2011 class already has a couple of stud commits that should be ranked no lower than 4-stars.

Joker was asked if UK was looking for a quarterback coach as rumors have come out that Tee Martin could be joining the staff. Joker's response was, "We already have one". Still, don't be surprised if Martin joins the staff.

Joker did tell the media that the football program would be headed in a new direction with Strength and Conditioning. Most people feel Ray "The Rock" Oliver will take over the position. "The Rock" has UK and NFL connections and will be another huge addition to "Operation Win".