Who knows when Rich Brooks will retire? He certainly deserves to stick around a few years to reap the spoils of what he has wrought. He took a team on probation and build it into one that has been to 3 consecutive bowls. No small feat in UK football history. Now, we would all loved to have done more, but realistically the sheer numbers of great players it takes to play in the SEC was lacking. That is what Brooks, Joker and Co. have done…Built up the player base to be competitiive.

Now, I am seeing that on the recruiting trail. With the two big-armed freshmen coming in, and the amount of publicity that has had on the recruiting trail, we are seeing 4-Star players use one of their visits to come to UK…Once we get them here, from all accounts I have read both that the UK staff have a lasting impression on them, not to mention the state-of-the-art facilities.

Joker has divided the country finding recruits in states that we weren’t that strong in before. He is mostly responsible for making inroads into LaGrange Ga. where such great ones as Wesley and Braxton came from, as well as a couple this year. Joker is slowly building a great relationship in SC where we snagged Cartier Rice, Gene McCaskill, Matt Lenz, Taylor Wyndham and others

Joker and Chuck Smith snatched the best player out of the state of Indiana, the 4 Star QB, Morgan Newton, 6’5″ 220 4.5, and took the best running back in the state for good measure, Dakotah Tyler 200lb 4.4 forty…..Joker and the boys are definitely going after the great athletes, and they are getting some looks. Recruiting has gotten progressively better, and I think Rich Brooks wants to stick around a couple of years, to see how his freshmen QB’s do and beat UT and some others on our hit list…

When it comes to the numbers, this year’s group of 3 & 4 star designated recruits UK has signed to LOI’s far exceeds any in recent years. It is obvious to me that our 3 consecutive bowl trips have led to some improved numbers in the recruiting arena, on paper. We can always count on Rich Brooks, Joker and Co. to deliver that little known recruit that turns out to be a star and I expect this year will be no exception…

Comparing UK’s recruiting this year, verses year’s past, reveals the discrepancy in the numbers this year, and that is The Good News. Consider that we only had 1-4 star player last year, Aaron Boyd, and 8-3 star players…This year, even with Morgan Newton not getting that 4th star, we have 3-4 star players and 16-3 star players….That is double the 3 star players and 3 times the 4-star….Definately our finest recruiting in decades!

It is hard to tell how good some of these 3-star players will be, especially Morgan Newton. In 2006, considered by many to be a great year – including the recruitment of Micah Johnson as a 4-Star, along with Corey Peters – We had 9-3 star recruits, so again, not in recent memory have we had a class such as this!

Now it appears that Brooks and Joker are keeping the proverbial pedal to the metal, and offering kids early once again…Miles Simpson, he of 6’2” grace and speed, of 6A Power Simon Kenton High, is on everyone’s wish list…Only a junior, he will have America in his back door before he is done. Maybe we need to get Micah to start recruiting him early, along with Chris Collinsworth’s son from the Northern Area of the Commonwealth. We let Shawn Alexander get away from there, and Miles is in that M-O-L-D…

UK is beginning to attract kids nationally with the program, and its unique position in the SEC as the northern-most school don’t hurt when recruiting in Indiana and Ohio where we are South of them, yet still in the SEC! Morgan Newton’s father mentioned location as being a “big factor” in his son’s attending UK as well as the chance to play QB in the SEC!

Indeed, the very thing we complain about – how tough the SEC IS – is our greatest benefactor in many cases…Kids see that the SEC is the toughest conference around, producing multiple consecutive champions, and they have a shot to be on national TV and play early.

Rich Brooks & Joker grabbed Two – Four star players from the juco ranks the last week of recruiting… These kids usually go elsewhere to play…Not any more…!