SIGNING DAY PREVIEW: Safety Tyrell Ajian
Cats Illustrated isn't waiting until National Signing Day to get you ready for all the action. We're rolling out Signing Day content all week.
In our new Signing Day Preview series we'll profile every single one of Kentucky's 2017 early enrollees as well as those who won't be signing until Wednesday.
STATUS: Will sign on Wednesday and enroll in June.
RESUME: Ajian did a little of everything during his time with Madison Comprehensive's football team. However, the team finished 2-7 in spite of his contributions on both sides of the ball.
RECRUITING HISTORY: Ajian put together one of the more impressive early offer lists of any 2017 Kentucky commitment. Notre Dame, Michigan State and many others were involved with Ajian at an early stage in the process. At one point there was talk that Ajian was leaning heavily towards Notre Dame, but as time went on it became clear that Kentucky would ultimately be the choice. Ajian visited Kentucky many times before his senior year, during the summer and during the Cats' 2016 season for games. He could frequently be spotted in recruiting areas and chatting it up with Vince Marrow. There were some other schools that made late pushes, including Central Florida, but Ajian remained solid with Kentucky.
SCOUTING REPORT: Sources have compared Ajian to current Kentucky sophomore safety Mike Edwards in that he's a do-it-all player with a blue collar mentality and a high football IQ in the secondary. Ajian doesn't have much in the way of senior highlights available but from what's out there earlier, and from what was seen at camp, Ajian has a very nice combination of size and overall athleticism. He glides when he runs and has a big stride but also quality footwork that should serve him well in coverage. He has solid ball skills. One way to sum up Ajian's game would be that he does pretty much everything at least pretty well. There are no glaring holes in his game. The one lingering question has been the level of competition he has faced and how that makes projecting his future a little more difficult, but he's been a four-star on Rivals.com all along.
CATS ILLUSTRATED PROJECTION: Ajian has an opportunity to compete for playing time early in the secondary because there are some questions about who will be stepping up to replace players like Blake McClain, J.D. Harmon and Marcus McWilson. A redshirt would probably benefit him as the jump in competition will be more significant than in some other cases, but Ajian could surprise some people early. Without predicting he'll push for depth chart time as a true freshman, it shouldn't be ruled out, either.
| Size | Speed | Footwork | Run Support | Ball Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
8/10 |
8/10 |
7.5/10 |
7/10 |
7/10 |
