[LeeCoUKFan]

Dowell happy to add Kentucky offer

Justin Rowland
CatsIllustrated.com Football Recruiting Analyst

Kentucky became one of the latest offers for 2015 Ohio athlete David Dowell recently and he plans to give the Wildcats a serious look.

The Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward athlete is prized for his versatility and the 6-foot, 177-pound prospect now has BCS offers from Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee.

Dowell has noticed Kentucky's recruiting success in his home state and while he has never visited Lexington that's a trip he's hoping to make in the future.

"I like Kentucky," Dowell explained. "I think they're a good program on the rise. I've talked to (Vince Marrow) one time when he offered me. He just said that he likes my skill at corner and that he wants to get me down to Kentucky."

Dowell has the kind of length that Mark Stoops liked in his cornerbacks when he was at Florida State. Of course, UK has had success recruiting defensive backs from Ohio since Stoops and Marrow have been recruiting the state.

From the Class of 2013 both Marcus McWilson and Jaleel Hytchye pledged to Kentucky late. In the current class of seniors Darius West and Mike Edwards are both committed. It's reasonable to assume that success will continue and Dowell now appears to be a priority recruit.

"All of my offers are on a level playing field," he said.

While Dowell has never been to Kentucky he has taken other trips. So far the 2015 defensive back has visited Ohio State and more recently Penn State. The Nittany Lions had some scholarship restrictions erased by the NCAA and can sign a full class next year.

"They were both great," he said of his trips to the two Big Ten schools. "I got to see Penn State against Michigan and Ohio State against Wisconsin. Both went down to the wire."

Dowell's twin brother, Andrew, is a four-star running back who also is having a strong junior season. At 6-foot and 200 pounds he also has an offer from Illinois but Kentucky and Tennessee have not offered yet.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?C...&PT=4&PR=2