Something was noticeably absent last December when Kentucky unveiled its early football signings.

The Wildcats did not feature a single scholarship player from the Bluegrass State for perhaps the first time in program history.

It wasn't by design, UK head coach Mark Stoops said. Just the way it played out.

On Wednesday, the Cats' list of December signees had a much more local flavor as five of the 21 players who officially joined the program are from the Commonwealth. The group includes four players from Louisville and one from Nicholasville.

"I think it was very important," Stoops said of the in-state recruiting haul. "We've been working these guys for some time... I think there's always good quality in this state. Sometimes there's not the quantity. This year, there were certainly a good amount of very good football players."

Kentucky hit on almost all of its major in-state recruiting targets. The lone exception was four-star athlete Wandale Robinson, the Western Hills product who originally committed to the Cats before flipping his choice to Nebraska earlier this month.

The UK staff had a flip success of its own, getting four-star Ballard linebacker Jared Casey to reconsider his initial pledge to Oregon.

"This is probably the best linebacker class we've signed since we've been here," UK recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow said. The Cats signed six players at the position, two from Jefferson County.

Fate may have intervened with Casey and fellow four-star linebacker J.J. Weaver from Louisville Moore. They happened to be coming out the same year that UK went 9-3, earned a bid to the Citrus Bowl, and outside linebacker Josh Allen claimed multiple national defensive player of the year honors.

"That's like striking gold," Marrow said. "... The main thing is it's about developing our players."

Kentucky also signed Louisville Butler receiver Tae Tae Crumes, an explosive athlete who Marrow compared to former UK wideout Jeff Badet, and Louisville Doss linebacker Shawn'Kel Knight-Goff, who Marrow said he believes could be the biggest hidden gem in the class.

Marrow noted that winning has helped the Cats change their perception in Jefferson County.

"It was just a thing where I think Louisville just had a strong hold on a lot of the kids there, a lot of the inner-city kids," he said. "... It was just getting these guys here to come play in the best conference in the country and come play with the best school in the state. It wasn’t a hard sell.”

The Cats also had some local flavor with offensive lineman Eli Cox from neighboring West Jessamine. He's the latest in a long line of impressive O-Linemen produced by central Kentucky high schools.

"He's the type of guy we're looking for," Stoops said of the 6-foot-4, 300-pound prospect. "He's a Kentucky kid that wants to play here and wants to continue that legacy of playing very, very physical, tough offensive line play. So that wasn't a very hard sell."

By contrast to its in-state recruiting success, Kentucky only had three signees from Ohio in the early period. That number was significantly lower than fans have seen since Stoops & Co. arrived in Lexington, but Marrow said people should not read too much into it.

"A lot of people were asking me in Ohio like, ‘What’s going on? Did we lose our power in Ohio?’ he said. "No. It was just we shifted emphasis into Louisville and the state of Kentucky. But the guys we got out of Ohio were top guys. I’m always going to fluctuate in between Ohio, Kentucky, and then some national guys. It’s just where I needed to go this year."

Kentucky currently ranks 28th in the Rivals national recruiting rankings. The Cats still have four potential spots to fill between now and the traditional February signing day.