Stoops, Kentucky salvage solid class

It could have been better.

That's one way to look at Kentucky football's 2015 recruiting class, and there's no denying the accuracy of that take. Six decommitments in an eight-day stretch left Mark Stoops and his staff scrambling in the days and hours leading up to National Signing Day on Wednesday.

Mark Stoops admitted at his news conference on Wednesday that the class was "a little bit of a grind," that securing seven commitments in the past two days to offset the defections of committed players made for "a tough year in certain aspects."

So it could have been better.

But it rarely has been.

Stoops and his staff still managed a class rated 35th in Rivals' team rankings. That's the third-best class at Kentucky in the Rivals era. The only two to top it? Stoops' previous two classes, which ranked 29th and 17th.

"It's like a lot of times you hear me talking after a game, a couple plays here, a couple plays there," Stoops said Wednesday. "Same thing -- a couple players here, a couple players there push you one way or the other."

And Kentucky had more than a couple players swinging the momentum of the class.

Over an eight-day stretch leading up to signing day, six players -- four-star twins Andrew Dowell and David Dowell, three-star defensive linemen DaVon Hamilton, Tyrone Riley and Jason Strowbridge and three-star defensive back Jeremiah Dinson -- backed out of commitments and chose other schools.

So in the final two days leading up to Signing Day, Kentucky was scrambling to solidify a class. Seven of the 23 players the Wildcats signed on Wednesday -- cornerback Derrick Baity, defensive end Alvonte Bell, wide receiver Therrell Gosier, defensive back Will Jackson, running back Sihiem King, defensive tackle Courtney Miggins and wide receiver Tavin Richardson -- committed in the past two days.

"I felt like it was key for us this last week, these last couple days, into last night and into this morning to close on a few guys," Stoops said.

The result is a class with a balance of positions -- five defensive backs, four offensive linemen, four defensive linemen, four linebackers, three wide receivers, two tight ends and a running back -- and experience, with 19 high school players, two junior-college transfers and two sophomore transfers from Nebraska.

It's a class that features only two four-star recruits, linebacker Eli Brown and tight end C.J. Conrad, which is fewer than Kentucky has become accustomed to under Stoops, but only one less than it had in the three recruiting classes prior to his arrival.

Still, it's a class that for now is most notable for what might have been.

At one point, Kentucky had commitments from Hamilton and three-star wide receiver Alex Stump, both of whom are headed to play for NCAA champion Ohio State. The Dowell twins are bound for Michigan State. Dinson signed with Auburn.

"You look at the people we lost these kids to," recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow said. "One won the national championship, one lost I think four games in three years. So we're fishing in the right water. You want to be with that. That's the type of people we're going to recruit from here on out."

And Kentucky lost out on its most notable in-state target, five-star running back Damien Harris, who chose Alabama.

Still, by most any measure, Kentucky's class is strong by its historical standard -- and for a team with seven wins over two seasons combined under Stoops.

The five wins in Stoops' second season represented significant improvement. And yet the win total -- one short of bowl eligibility after a 5-1 start -- might have had a negative impact on UK's recruiting momentum.

"I think we stumbled a little bit towards the finish line," said Conrad, a tight end who enrolled early at UK, "but the fact that we've just been consistent with it -- not necessarily putting up the greatest records in the world but still being able to get great recruiting classes, it's only going to get better from here."

Stoops was unconvinced that Kentucky's 0-6 finish impacted the decisions of committed recruits, some of whom, like Stump, backed out before that slide began, and many of whom chose other schools long after it had finished.

"If that would have been the case, I think we'd have had some turning early," Stoops said. "I don't think it had a lot to do with that."

Stoops said part of the issue was his staff's strong early evaluation of players who caught the eye of more-established programs late in the process.

No matter the reason for the defections, though, it seems clear that Kentucky needs a stronger on-the-field product to sell in recruiting moving forward.

Stoops didn't back away from that, saying "It's important to win. That's always going to be the case."

That might be true going forward more than ever.

"First year, we sold hope," Marrow said. "The second year was more about getting need. Now it's about, we got to start winning."