3/2/2018 football Edit

UK, other Power Five schools interested in Illinois offensive lineman

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.

Nik Broeker, a 6-foot-5, 275-pound offensive tackle from Springfield (Ill.) Sacred Heart Griffin, got his first taste of Kentucky on Saturday. He, like so many others from so many different states, attended the Cats' second junior day.

On Friday morning, Broeker announced that Kentucky has extended an offer.

This weekend Broeker will visit Minnesota and Iowa. Then comes a trip to Illinois, a home state school, in a couple of weekends. Trips to Western Michigan and Oklahoma State (April 4th) follow that, and Broeker is hoping to visit Missouri and Purdue as well.

One thing will factor most prominently into Broeker's recruitment.

"I think academics is a big part of it for me," Broeker said. "I'm planning on studying business, so I want to find a place with great academics so I can get a good degree and benefit from long-term. So that and the coaching staff, and finding coaches I can trust on and off the field."

The three-star lineman said Kentucky made a good first impression. And that was before UK had offered.

"I've been in touch with Coach (Dean) Hood and he had been messaging me a lot," Broeker said. "I've also heard from Coach (Eddie) Gran and Coach (Dillon) Sanders, too. Coach (John) Schlarman a little bit, and they invited me a while ago. So I was definitely really interested in Kentucky and that's what led to me visiting.

"The best thing I took away from the visit was the coaching staff, because they're all really engaging and it was good talking to all of them and meeting them in person."

Broeker said he spent most of his time with Dean Hood and John Schlarman, although he sat down with Gran for an extended period of time as well.

"We did go through their recruiting process while we were there and I'm really interested in (Kentucky). I like them," he said. "They want me to come back for spring ball. They want me to come by for spring practice and me and my parents are talking about it. That's something we're really interested in doing."