CatsIllustrated.com publisher Justin Rowland takes a look at some football recruiting stories that are brewing and bound to come to a head on the horizon.

While Kentucky is more than halfway finished with their 2018 class, there's still a lot to watch out for.

Four-star defensive back Stanley Garner will be making his college decision on August 16th, as he tweeted last week. His finalists are Kentucky, Louisville, Alabama, Michigan, Clemson and Tennessee. Garner's old coach at Dillard, who has accompanied him on a trip to Lexington, told CatsIllustrated.com that his decision will come down at right around 8 p.m. on that evening of the 16th. It will likely be a Twitter announcement.

Previously our CatsIllustrated.com sources close to the UK program have said that there is optimism that Garner will choose Kentucky. His old coach also told CatsIllustrated.com, while Dillard was on his first trip to Kentucky and was camping, that the Cats had a very good shot. More recently, analysts who cover recruiting at the other programs on Garner's list have told CatsIllustrated.com that they expect Kentucky to be the choice.

CatsIllustrated.com Prediction: Kentucky

Garner isn't the only defensive back on Kentucky's board making a decision in the very near future. Jamari Brown will make his college choice on August 17th, one day after Garner's decision. Brown visited Kentucky this summer and is friends with some of Kentucky's commitments, including wide receiver Akeem Hayes.

Brown's three finalists are an interesting group: Kentucky, Auburn and Temple.

The 6-foot-3 corner picked up an offer from Auburn after camping on the Plains late last month. But to date he has not tweeted out a graphic showing Auburn has extended a written offer. He has done that with offers from Kentucky and Pittsburgh (though Pitt didn't make his final cut). It is interesting to think that Auburn might not have turned a verbal offer handed out on July 21st into a written offer on August 1st, but then again, they might have. He just hasn't announced it yet.

While CatsIllustrated.com sources have been optimistic on things with Brown, we haven't been given as much of a wink and a nod as with Garner. Notably, one of Brown's uncles is Junior Rosegreen, who played safety for Auburn.

According to AuburnSports.com's Jeffrey Lee, Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran recruited Rosegreen to the Tigers.

CatsIllustrated.com Prediction: Kentucky

Although Blue Smith tweeted that he had changed his announcement date there wasn't anything firm announced after that and it's looking like August 27th, or thereabouts, is still the most likely scenario for when he will make his choice. Kentucky sources have not wavered in their optimism (and certainly not in their hopefulness) but neither have people connected to Ohio State. All there is to say at this point is it's too close to call and neither pick would surprise us, although history favors OSU even if current connections help Kentucky.

CatsIllustrated.com Prediction: Too close to call