Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
The Kentucky Wildcats receiving corps got a little deeper on Tuesday afternoon with a commitment from 4-star wide receiver Blake Bone. He becomes the 8th 4-star commitment for the Wildcats and the 11th 4-star commitment in two classes for Mark Stoops. Bone had offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Louisville, Clemson, and Nebraska. Blake Bone stands at 6-foot-5, 183 pounds and is from South Carolina. He is rated a 4-star recruit, 8th best player in his state, and 47th best player in the class at his position per Rivals.com. Bone becomes Kentucky’s 23rd commit in the 2014 class and 4th wide receiver.
We’ve all used the same adjectives before when describing the recent recruiting successes of Mark Stoops and this new coaching staff. They have already locked up a Top-20 nationally ranked recruiting class for 2014. The addition of Bone only makes those numbers skyrocket. Stoops has already landed 11 4-star prospects in less than a year in Lexington. Kentucky would have to go back seven recruiting classes to equal that amount. Zero to two 4-star recruits was the norm for many years, but now the 2014 class has eight. Before Stoops, Joker Phillips signed one 4-star recruit in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Of those three players, none of them will start for UK on Saturday when they take on Western Kentucky. One of those guys is not even with the program anymore.
While Kentucky fans continue on this euphoric roller coaster of recruiting success, they may not expect to take a dive anytime soon. The Wildcats are still heavily involved with Kentucky native Matt Elam, who is ranked a 4-star recruit by Rivals and 2nd best player in the state. He and current 2014 commit Drew Barker will battle it out for the title of Mr. Football and may eventually become teammates in Lexington. Elam has some huge offers from Ohio State, Tennessee, Alabama and Notre Dame. If Kentucky can keep the dice rolling, the ‘Cats are well on their way to SEC relevancy.
Brian Lewis is an SEC Football Writer for www.RantSports.com You can add him to your network on Google for more of his work.
