The first Early Signing Period is in the books as UK landed signatures from 20 players. On the day, there were two junior college players who will enroll next month to go along with 18 high school athletes.
The fax machine was buzzing at UK’s football facilities this morning and now they are set to close strong with about three or four more signatures come February. We all know that Terry Wilson will be competing for immediate playing time at quarterback, but there are numerous other spots where newcomers will be needed.
After analyzing this class and watching a ton of Hudl tape, here are some players that you could see make an immediate impact come September when UK welcomes Central Michigan to Kroger Field.
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Max Duffy and Chance Poore
We’ll be combining the two specialists here as both we’ll be freshmen in 2018 and will be expected to play right away. With Kentucky losing seniors at both kicker and punter, the youngsters will need to be good right away.
Chance Poore will immediately have big shoes to fill as the South Carolina native will be replacing the best kicker in school history. Poore was a significant recruiting win for Kentucky as the six-foot-three and 200-pound kicker committed to Kentucky just weeks after they offered in May. Entering 2018, Poore will be the only scholarship kicker on the roster for the Wildcats and he should be the starter come Labor Day Weekend.
After a very rocky true freshman season by Grant McKinniss, UK decided to dip into the grad transfer pool for the first time under Mark Stoops. Matthew Panton transferred from Columbia and the Australian was very good in his only season in Lexington. The rugby style kicker gave UK some real versatility at punter and they have decided to dip into Australia again.
Max Duffy was the first signature received by UK and the Perth, Australia native has an Australian Rules Football background. It appears new special teams coordinator Dean Hood loves the rugby style punting and that will continue next season as Duffy could be the answer at punter for the next four seasons.
Akeem Hayes
After Garrett Johnson plays his final game in the Music City Bowl, he’ll leave Lexington as the program’s fifth all-time leader in receptions and fourth all-time leader in receiving yards. The Sunshine State native did most of this damage from the slot as he had a very solid college career.
In this position, the future appears to be bright as Lynn Bowden looks like a future star after posting 210 yards on 15 receptions. But after that depth is a little thin as both Johnson and Charles Walker graduate while Clevan Thomas barely played as a true freshman in 2016.
In comes Akeem Hayes and the Florida speedster will get immediate looks to play. Hayes will be UK’s smallest receiver next season (5-foot-10, 170 pounds) but his quickness could be used immediately on screens that UK utilized with Jeff Badet in 2015. Don’t be surprised to see him get snaps against Central Michigan.
Marquan McCall
The top rated recruit on UK’s board was a can’t miss prospect from the Detroit area and was a huge recruiting win for defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale. McCall could have gone to numerous Power Five schools and the big guy can play on either side of the line of scrimmage.
When watching his tape, it appears that McCall has a higher ceiling at offensive guard but he can still be a very good interior defensive lineman that could make an impact as soon as he steps on campus. This morning it was released that UK plans on using the big guy (6-foot-3, 350 pounds) on the defensive side of the ball and he is going to play right away.
Quinton Bohanna had an outstanding rookie campaign at nose but UK is losing quite a bit of depth as Matt Elam and Naquez Pringle will both be moving on. Expect McCall to backup Bohanna immediately and he has the potential to be a run stopping force. The nose position has been a definitive weakness since UK made the switch to the 3-4, but with Bohanna and McCall it could become a team strength very quickly.
Dom Williams
Once the Music City Bowl is complete, Mike Edwards will have a decision to make whether to make the move to the NFL or return for his senior season. In 2017, the safety from Cincinnati made the move to UK’s nickel position and had an outstanding junior campaign (89 tackles, four tackles for loss, once sack, four interceptions, six pass breakups).
After Edwards, however, depth at UK’s nickel position is concerning and expect for Dom Williams to be thrown in the mix right away when he arrives on campus for the spring semester. The Tennessee native has similar size to Blake McClain and Edwards (no taller than six foot and less than 200 pounds) and has flashed some really good cover skills at the junior college level.
He’ll have to beat out players such as Tyrell Ajian and Tobias Gilliam, but don’t be surprised if Williams is an opening day starter if Edwards makes the leap to the NFL.
Chris Rodriguez
After 2018, it is very likely that UK will lose its top two running backs as Sihiem King will graduate and Benny Snell will then be draft eligible. Therefore, this fall it will be imperative that UK builds some depth in the backfield so that they are ready to roll in 2019.
Bryant Koback is a speedster that redshirted last year while it was a bit concerning that A.J. Rose couldn’t crack the rotation as a redshirt freshman. It looks like there will be a very promising opening for Georgia running back Chris Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is a big, bruising tailback (6-foot-0, 220 pounds) who is very physical and gets north/south very quickly. Running style wise, he has a lot of similarities to Benny Snell as he seeks out contact and runs through defenders. Rodriguez has the body to hold up against the physicality of SEC defenses right now and he could get some looks in spot duty if he can beat out a couple guys in fall camp.
