Kentucky’s 6-1 start has opened doors to major recruits. Can it finish in December?

Kentucky’s 6-1 start and revamped offense are paying the kind of dividends one would hope for on the recruiting trail.

The Wildcats are favored to land two four-star wide receivers, one of whom — Frederick Douglass High School star Dane Key — is announcing his college choice on Thursday. The other, Barion Brown, is a Nashville standout who was believed to be an Alabama lean until last week, when multiple analysts — including some who cover the Crimson Tide on a daily basis — filed predictions for the Wildcats. If both sign, it would give Kentucky multiple four-star recruits at the receiver position in consecutive classes for the first time during Mark Stoops’ tenure; it signed two, Dekel Crowdus (another Douglass star) and Chris Lewis (out of Alabama) during the last cycle.

That feat would be all the more impressive considering that, for years, there were many cycles in which Kentucky didn’t land a single four-star player at that position.

“It’s different,” recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow told the Herald-Leader in a phone interview last week.

Marrow said about 95 percent of Kentucky’s recruiting targets were in attendance to see the Wildcats’ 20-13 win over Florida, and many of them were in town the next week to see them rout LSU. “It don’t get no better than that,” said Marrow, who’s been with the program since Stoops arrived in 2013.

Kentucky coming into the week had 15 players committed as part of the 2022 recruiting class. In 247Sports’ ratings, it ranked No. 19 in the country and seventh in the Southeastern Conference, behind Georgia, Alabama, Texas A&M, Missouri, LSU and Florida. If it holds that position, or improves, it would be the second top-20 recruiting class signed during Stoops’ tenure (the 2014 class was ranked No. 17 by Rivals; it ranked 22nd on 247Sports).

That’s just the high school piece, though. As illustrated by the current edition of the Wildcats, the transfer portal can make just as much, if not more, of an impact on a team’s season. Four of Kentucky’s starters — quarterback Will Levis, linebacker Jacquez Jones, wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson and left tackle Dare Rosenthal — were former Power Five players added from the portal between January and July. With college players now granted immediate eligibility after making their first move, and teams given leeway to add up to seven additional players beyond their normal 25 allowed scholarships each year for each player who transfers out of their program, the portal will only continue to be a powerful tool when building a team.

And Kentucky has positioned itself early as a program that’s not just willing to use it, but maximize it.

“The way I look at this now, it’s like the NFL,” Marrow said. “The college draft is high school recruiting. And then they have free agency. That’s the transfer portal. If you can go and get four or five guys (every year) that can make an impact, along with the top high school kids you get, then you’re doing pretty good.”

If Robinson declares for the 2022 NFL Draft, Kentucky almost certainly will look to the portal for an experienced receiver or two, and might tap it for that regardless. His return to Central Kentucky has been a lesson in what not burning bridges can do for both parties when an initial recruitment doesn’t work out; Robinson found a home where he could be used exclusively as a receiver and UK got a guy it could feature in an NFL offense.

“A year later, a kid may be like, ‘Man, I really liked Kentucky,’ and has a chance to come back,” Marrow said. “That’s why you gotta always stay positive.”

Kiyaunta Goodwin

Marrow and other members of the staff cant comment about specific recruits before they sign, but he expressed confidence that UK will keep all the players on board who’ve committed.

That should ease fans’ concerns regarding Kiyaunta Goodwin, who committed to Kentucky in April but has indicated for a while that he would take official visits to multiple other schools. His first visit was to Alabama over the weekend. Officials to Michigan State (Oct. 30), UK (Nov. 6), Ohio State (Nov. 20) and Michigan (Nov. 27) are scheduled.

Goodwin was recently elevated to five-star status by 247Sports, and is considered the No. 2 offensive tackle in the country by that service. His trainer, Chris Vaughn, has recently said that taking official visits is a matter of doing “due diligence.” Kentucky hasn’t discouraged Goodwin from embracing the process, either.

He’s also attended every UK home game.

“We’ve kept guys when, around this time, we might’ve been 4-3 or 3-4,” Marrow said. “We’re 6-1 and got a lot of great football ahead of us.”

Negative recruiting

He’s not hearing a lot of it at the moment, but Marrow believes as the season winds down and the early signing period nears, other programs will try to capitalize on the fact that Stoops at the moment is oft-mentioned as a potential hire at other schools; they did the same thing when he was linked to Florida State during the 2019 season. Marrow also believes Stoops deserves to have his name linked to other programs, based on his performance at Kentucky.

That doesn’t mean there’s any fire to the smoke, though. Stoops commands the 15th highest salary in the country ($5.26 million, good for sixth best in the SEC), and is in line to be the winningest coach in program history. Leaving Kentucky isn’t as much of a no-brainer as it used to be.

“I know Mark very well, and I know he loves it here,” Marrow said. “It’s a great town. The fan base has gotten more and more better. It would be pretty hard to lure him away from here. ... That’s not making up or trying to be politically correct. He really loves it here.”

Next game

No. 12 Kentucky at Mississippi State

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

TV: SEC Network

Records: Kentucky 6-1 (4-1 SEC), Mississippi State 4-3 (2-2)