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Sunday night official visit notes

Here are some of the things Cats Illustrated has heard about players who visited Kentucky over the weekend.

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Max Duffy, an Australia native who only picked up football in recent years after a brief career in the AFL, was hosted by Matt Panton. Official visit hosts are generally selected largely on the basis of shared experiences, and given Panton's age and background he was an obvious fit. The two have been familiar with one another.

Duffy told Cats Illustrated, "Really enjoyed it. Was great to meet all the coaches for the first time and look at the campus and facilities. (Panton) was great. Having someone to relate with is very helpful."

It was the first time Duffy has visited Kentucky and although he didn't seem too concerned about how it might go, he has to feel better about the next three or four years of his life now that he's actually set foot in Lexington.

On Sunday night, Cats Illustrated reported that former WKU and Southern Nazarene University receiver Almonzo Brown had unofficially visited Kentucky on Saturday. Technically, it wasn't even an unofficial visit.

"I just stopped by yesterday to see because I have already been accepted into the school so we wanted see campus on our way to another visit and the time we were going by did not match up with Coach (Lamar) Thomas' schedule," Brown said. "Luckily we ran into some GAs and were able to get on the field. Yesterday was not really planned. We were really on our way to Georgetown."

It seems as though Brown can continue his education at Kentucky if he so chooses, but at most he would be a candidate to walk onto the football team. He's also exploring other options, as he said.

Amauchechukwu Nnaji-Collins was a sleeper visiting Kentucky over the weekend and he told Cats Illustrated on Sunday night that his flight had been delayed in Atlanta, as was also the case for many of the other players from the South who visited UK over the weekend. He should have more to offer on his visit on Monday, but for now he and his family are staying the night in Georgia. There have been no reports of an offer. Josh Paschal was Nnaji-Collins' host.

Quintin Wilson has been rock solid since he picked Kentucky many months ago and that has not changed following his official visit.

"The best parts for me were getting to sit down and watch film with Coach (John) Schlarman and hanging out the players I’m going to be spending my next four to five years with. I’m even more excited than I was beforehand," Wilson told Cats Illustrated after the conclusion of the visit.

Wilson's host for the weekend was redshirt freshman offensive lineman/center Drake Jackson, who was a good fit because he's an interior lineman and a younger player in the program who had a good deal of success in 2017.

"We got along pretty well," Wilson said of he and Jackson. "I had a good time hanging out with him and his roommates which was really cool."

While Wilson is listed as a center, following the trip he said that Kentucky has recruited him to play any of the three interior line positions (LG, C, RG) and he's okay with that. Watching the team's practice on Saturday was one of the highlights of the trip for Wilson.

Akeem Hayes told Cats Illustrated that his host for the weekend was Clevan Thomas. That was a natural fit because Thomas saw the field as a true freshman and a slot in the program, also from Florida.

His teammate, Marvin Alexander, was hosted by Josh Ali, who seems to have made a positive impression. He spent more time talking to Eddie Gran and Darin Hinshaw than any of the other coaches over the weekend.

"The best part (of the visit) was being around all the players 'cause I started to look at them like family," Alexander said. "And the basketball game was pretty good, too. It was good to see the fans pack the arena. Also, spending time with the coaches during dinner was fun."

Messiah Turner got a call from Colorado State's coaches while he was officially visiting Kentucky. Things tend to get a little complicated this time of year. Turner is waiting on Kentucky to offer and he's willing to wait until February, which means bypassing the early signing period. Kentucky will have an in-home and school visit with him between December 20th and the traditional February period, so it will just come down to how much space they have. He'll commit if the Cats offer, based on what we've been told by a source with knowledge of the situation.

Four-star defensive end target Leonard Taylor did visit Kentucky over the weekend and from what we've heard from others who were on campus, things went very well for him. Other recruits did not say too much about Taylor and uncommitted recruits, and it was obvious that they were going out of their way to give those players their space with the early signing period so close. Based on the tone of others speaking about Taylor, however, it wouldn't be a surprise at all if he's a part of Kentucky's class in the near future.

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