[LeeCoUKFan]

Coaches discuss Kentucky's 2013 signing class

CatsIllustrated.com



Wide receiver Jeff Badet
Head coach Mark Stoops: "Tremendous speed, again, a guy we targeted right away. The nice thing is, I want to say we signed 70% of the guys we brought on campus, we signed. Some of them we didn't have a "push" on for commitment, but Jeff was a guy that right away we targeted and loved. He's got that home run speed so it was important to us."

Wide receiver Javess Blue
Stoops: "Coach Scott has known him for three, four years, has watched him so he had a great relationship with him. Again, another guy that was right away, as soon as we had our staff together, started watching film, that's a guy we must have."

Offensive tackle Justin Day
Offensive line coach John Schlarman: "Justin is a big, tall offensive lineman from South Carolina. He's got a big upside. He was moved from defensive line to offensive line from his junior to senior year, so he's played tackle about nine months. He has a lot of growth potential and a really high ceiling. Great feet for a big, tall guy."

Stoops: "Just a great size, tremendous athlete, great size. We list him here at 6 8, 305 and that was somebody we watched right away and watching the film we were encouraged with what we saw, that he was committed and excited about keeping Justin."

Offensive lineman Nick Haynes
Schlarman: "Nick is a guy who has also only played o-line for about a year. He was a tight end last year, running down the seam and catching touchdown passes. That tells you about his athleticism. He plays basketball, is the leading scorer, rebounder and assist guy on the team. Very athletic. Nick can play multiple spots on the line, but we project him as a guard or possibly a center. He hasn't spent a lot of time snapping the ball, but I think he's a natural athlete who could probably pick up a ball, snap it and learn how to play that center position. He's very smart and in our offense, the center has to be smart and get everybody on the same page and direct the offensive line."

Stoops: "Nick Haynes is a guy we just started working a couple of weeks ago and just had a chance to watch him and get caught up with him on film, and again, we brought him in here just this past week, and extremely impressed with his athletic ability, again, great size, a guy that's very versatile. We feel that he could play some center as well as guard. Excited about him."

Defensive end Jason Hatcher
Defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh: "He's going to be a great player for us. He has to work, has to do the things necessary to develop, because all the guys in the SEC are athletic. So now, he has to take that development and I know he will, because I know he's a good person."

Stoops: "What makes him so dynamic is how explosive he is. He's very good on his feet, he's very good off the edge, he can do a lot of things but it's his first step, he's dynamic with his quickness and speed and athletic ability. We're excited about that."

Defensive tackle Jacob Hyde
Stoops: "Very important to keep Jacob (Hyde), big, strong guy, I love his accent. Just a great person to be around. Big, strong guy and very excited to have him in our program.

Cornerback Jaleel Hytchye
Cornerbacks coach Derrick Ansley: "Jaleel is a very, very raw kid. Very explosive, very fast. He can play man-to-man, can play the ball in the deep part of the field. We're looking forward to bringing both of those kids in here and seeing what they can do."

Running back JoJo Kemp
Stoops: "He's tremendous, a home run hitter. As we assembled our staff and got together, he was a guy that we targeted right away and felt he was a "high priority" for us. So Jojo is a home run guy, can make some big plays for us."

Offensive coordinator Neal Brown: "He's a really good player. Thought he was a kid who was a little under-recruited. He's a kid who, when we came here, we knew we needed to sign another running back, and he was our No. 1 target from the get-go. For Chad to pull that off, identify who we wanted in mid-December, then go out and get him locked in, that was huge for our program."

Running backs coach Chad Scott: "Truth of the matter is, if you're a great football player it doesn't what offense you play in. Pitt was a pro-style offense, JoJo was a spread offense running back, but they didn't go get a pro-style guy, they went and tried to get the spread guy."

Kicker Austin MacGinnis
Stoops: "Strong leg, great person, fun to be around. He's a tough kid, a guy that wants to be in the mix. He doesn't want to be treated off by himself, he wants to be right in there with the rest of his team lifting and running and training so very excited about Austin."

Offensive tackle Kyle Meadows
Schlarman: "Kyle is really athletic. He can move. Big thing we do is pass the football. We're going to establish the run, too, but we throw the ball a lot so it's important to have those tackles who can pass protect against guys they're going to see in this conference. Kyle has great change of direction, really good feet. He's probably going to put a few pounds on when he gets down here, but he'll do that. He's a hard-working young man and I really look forward to what he can bring to the table."

Stoops: "Tremendous all around player, extremely athletic. He's the guy you're looking for at tackle, very long, he will get stronger. He needs to put on weight and get stronger between now and the fall but tremendous upside with him."

Offensive guard Ramsey Meyers
Schlarman: "A physical player. Kind of an old school offensive lineman who gets after guys, he'll put his hat on them. You know I like those types of guys that do that and play physical, that's what he brings to the table. Probably going to play guard for us. Really, I think he can bring some great things to the table as far as that physicality inside."

Wide receiver Alex Montgomery
Stoops: "He comes from a tremendous program, big time wide receiver that I knew about while I was at Florida State and had my eye on him for a good bit. Anybody that goes into the state champship game and has what did he have 9 catches for 190 yards or something like that, you know he's a heck of a football player. I've known Alex (Montgomery) for a while. It was a great "get" for us, a guy that's a strong receiver who can make plays."

Quarterback Reese Phillips
Stoops: "We're not allowed to work with them with a football right now, so I haven't seen him throw yet. But everybody that has been associated with Reese Phillips has been extremely impressed with what he does, and he's in the weight room doing a great job."

Defensive end Za'Darius Smith
Brumbaugh: "Za'Darius is a good person. He spent a lot of time working with me last year and developing. He only played one year of high school football and he played two years of junior college. He has a big upside."

Wide receiver Ryan Timmons
Stoops: "Dynamic player, and, again, high priority in state. The key point there is "dynamic player" and Ryan is fantastic. He's a home run threat every time he touches the ball. He's very versatile, and, again, tremendous family, great person, great student, joy to be around and, you know, was very high priority for us."

Scott: "He's so dynamic in space and so dynamic with the ball in his hands. Our biggest deal in this offense is find ways to the get the ball to guys in space. Obviously he'll play receiver but he's a guy you'll try to find different ways to get one-on-one in space and use his ability and make big plays for us."

Athlete Khalid Thomas
Scott: "You never know but right now he's going to play offense, he's a great athlete. Our biggest deal right now is trying to find ways to put guys in the best position to help the football team. But he will start out on offense, he'll be an offensive guys and we'll find ways to use him, in the run game and the passing game."

Cornerback Nate Willis
Ansley: "He's a very skilled guy, comes from a talent-rich part of Florida, a lot of SEC-caliber players and NFL players. He's very skilled, competed at Arizona Western at a high level against a lot of wideouts that are playing in the Pac-12, playing in the SEC. He's been there, done that. He's going to bring some maturity to our group, some age."

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1470106