[LeeCoUKFan]

Timmons, Floridians upgrade UK receiver corps

T.J. Walker
CatsIllustrated.com Staff Writer

Kentucky is bringing back the Air Raid offense, and on Wednesday the Wildcats signed some guys to make the sirens ring.

Finding wide receivers was a huge part of UK's 2013 recruiting class. The Cats are returning six scholarship receivers and realized they needed more.

When head coach Mark Stoops took over, UK had three receiver commitments, but the staff determined they weren't what they were looking for and started anew. In just over two months, Stoops and company signed four receivers, two that are nationally ranked at their position.

And in building this new and young wide receiving core, offensive coordinator Neal Brown was looking for speed.

"I think any position, you have to have speed," Brown said. "That's one thing we have to upgrade. I don't think we have to hide that. We have to upgrade our speed on the offensive side of the ball.

"I think we signed some guys today who can really run, if you look at Javess Blue, Jeff Badet[/db], Jojo Kemp, Ryan Timmons - those guys are elite-type fast guys."

Kemp will play primarily running back, but another Floridian will be the deep-ball threat.

"We'll have Alex Montgomery come in, who's the long body that's real physical that can go head-to-head with a corner and win those battles that we're wanting to win," wide receivers coach Tommy Mainord said.

Stoops said he had his eye on Montgomery when he was an assistant at Florida State, but after Montgomery recorded nine catches for 199 yards and three touchdowns in Florida's highest-level state football championship game, Stoops knew he had to have him at UK.

Montgomery is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound receiver from Weston, Fla. Three of UK's four wide receiver commits hail from the Sunshine State.

The lone non-Florida receiver was Timmons, one of three UK commits from the Commonwealth. Though he's from a different state, Timmons has plenty in common with his Florida classmates, including the elusiveness that the coaching staff looks for in its wide receivers.

"You have to have some guys that can make some guys miss," Brown said. "If you look at guys like Badet, you know, nationally ranked long-jumping guy. Great explosion, kind of an underrated kid that blew up the last six weeks of recruiting."

And it's no coincidence that Badet "blew up" once UK's staff targeted him. Stoops said he was one of the first guys UK went after once the new staff was assembled.

"Jeff has tremendous speed, again, a guy we targeted right away," Stoops said.

The speed doesn't stop with Badet. Mainord compared Badet to junior-college receiver Blue, ranked the No.78 JUCO player in the country.

He led his Butler Community College team in receptions (65), receiving yards (1,064) and receiving touchdowns (12).

You can also expect him to return some punts and kicks for the Cats next season.

"Javess Blue is an all-purpose guy, very strong, mature body that can fly and change direction well and has great ball skills," Mainord said. "You'll see him on our special teams catching balls and we'll do some returning, just a great player we're proud to have."

But UK's last wide receiver commit might have been its biggest.

Timmons was significant not only from an on-field talent standpoint, but in terms of keeping state talent in the Bluegrass. That's why the staff was ecstatic when Timmons picked UK over Florida and Ohio State Tuesday.

"(Timmons) really shows other in-state recruits, you know, in classes to come to have faith in us," Brown said. "He's a guy that's been running this offense since seventh grade. He knew the offense, he knew that he could come in here and compete early. It's big.

"He's a guy that's versatile; we're going to move him around. We'll play him some in the slot, some at outside receiver and we'll hand him the ball from the backfield also, and (have him) kick returning too. He's a guy that will bring a lot to the program early."

Besides putting UK back on the map in-state, he will compete for playing time instantly for the Cats. He averaged more than 30 yards per reception last season and scored 16 touchdowns.

And while it seems like the Cats might have a logjam at wide receiver next year, Mainord said that won't be the case. At Texas Tech, he said, they played about 10 wide receivers, subbing in two players at a time.

In order to make those sirens sound, you have to play fast, and with four new receivers, the Cats expect to put up points.

"I became a better coach; there's no doubt I became a better football coach," Mainord said. "The four guys we brought in all bring something different, that's the great thing about it. They're not the same thing four ways, they're not cloned."

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1469702