4/1/2021 football Edit

Tanner Lemaster is Kentucky's latest tight end target from Ohio

Justin Rowland • CatsIllustrated

Publisher

Justin Rowland has been CatsIllustrated.com's publisher since 2015. He covered college football recruiting at programs nationwide for 15 years prior to that.

Kentucky loves tight ends from Ohio. That much is clear.

C.J. Conrad, Darryl Long, Justin Rigg, Keaton Upshaw and Brenden Bates are all tight ends from the Buckeye State who have signed with Kentucky during the Mark Stoops era since recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow started targeting players in the state.

UK is recruiting a number of 2022 tight ends from Ohio as well.

And now the 'Cats are turning some attention to Class of 2023 tight end Tanner Lemaster of Washington Court House in Ohio.

The 6'6, 235-pound prospect landed an offer from Kentucky this week. It wasn't his first offer. Kansas, UCF, FIU, Marshall, Miami-OH, Tulane, Utah State, FIU, and Central Michigan are just some of the other schools that have offered.

Plenty of other Power Five programs are interested. Penn State, UCLA, USC, Ohio State, Arizona State, and Washington are some of the schools conveying interest to Lemaster. The big tight end target told Cats Illustrated that he would like to visit several of those Power Five schools this summer.

Darren Gammell of Darren Junior Recruiting Source has helped Lemaster along the way in his recruitment and said that he should give Vince Marrow a call.

When that call took place, Lemaster learned of Kentucky's offer. During that conversation Marrow said he loves Lemaster's size, his ability to go up and make plays on the ball in traffic, and that he wanted to build a relationship with him. Marrow also said the Ohio to Kentucky pipeline is a real thing.

So what are Lemaster's thoughts on Kentucky?

"I know Kentucky is a very solid SEC program that produces a ton of NFL talent and loves to develop their guys to be the best they can possibly be," Lemaster said. "And I know Coach Marrow recruits guys like no other coach out there and really wants me to come play ball for them."

Less than a month ago Lemaster told BuckeyeGrove.com on the Rivals.com network that the Ohio State coaches would like to see him camp in Columbus this summer.

While Kentucky is not an in-state school like OSU, it's closer to home than many of the schools recruiting him, and Lemaster said in that previous interview that "staying close to home is kind of huge."