[LeeCoUKFan]

COACH SPEAK: 'It's going to be scary' when new commit Epps hits his stride

Dub Maddox is the offensive coordinator at Jenks High School in Oklahoma, a nationally-respected prep powerhouse.

He spoke with Cats Illustrated about new Kentucky commitment Isaiah Epps following the player's commitment.

Normally a committed recruit's coaching staff can speak to how a player has performed over a period of several years. But because Epps is new to football, or at least only recently returned to the sport after a long stint away from it, Maddox can only talk about his senior season. That's all Epps had as a varsity high school football player.

"He's a great kid," Maddox told Cats Illustrated. "I'll tell you, he's a steal. He's an under the radar kid who didn't come out for football until his junior year, and it was like a week before football. His older brother, Carson, plays for Iowa State and he set our all-time receiving record in 2014. I would always see Isaiah in the weight room. When he was little he would come wait for Carson during workouts. I would ask him, 'When are you going to come out for football?' And he'd say, 'Oh no, I'm a basketball and track guy.'

"Finally, when Carson graduated, I think Isaiah saw him go to Iowa State and that kind of made him get the itch to play. He had played football when he was a young kid but it had been a while."

It's not as though the younger Epps made a big impact on the Jenks program right away. There's almost always going to be some kind of learning curve for a player who has been away from football for so long, even if he's a great athlete.

Maddox said Epps spent his junior year learning the ins and outs of how to play the game. Then, during the spring and summer of the offseason before his senior year, things start to click.

"We really saw potential in him. His talents and ability exceed his brother's just in terms of his natural gifts. But we really didn't know what we'd have until we got into the actual season," Maddox recalled.

"He just exploded. During the first three non-district games he got better every week," Maddox said. "He's a hard worker, very intelligent, a smooth route runner. He's very physical. That's the thing about him. Most guys think about a receiver and say, 'That's a finesse guy.' But he definitely has a physical mentality and we like that about him. The blocking, the running after the catch. He can really do it all."

If there's anything Epps needs to work on fine tuning, Maddox believes it's simply polishing his overall game as anyone else would have to. Because he's new to the game, at least at the highest prep level as a varsity player, Epps hasn't had as many reps as a lot of other top recruits.

But that's something time and experience in an SEC program will help with quickly, Maddox pointed out.

"He really just needs more reps. More game reps. This was the first year he had varsity experience. We played 12 games this year and went 11-1, so he really just needs more development and that's not a bad thing," Maddox said. "A lot of times when you get these guys who have played so many years they've already hit their ceiling. It's going to be exciting to see where he goes. He's still growing and maturing. He's 6'3 and already probably 185 or 190. When he gets into the weight room and gets more reps, and when he's around the film room and the level of coaching he's going to get in the SEC, it's going to be scary."

Epps had other Power Five conference offers from Kansas State and Illinois. Colleges at the FBS and FCS level had already offered him, too. A player's junior season is generally regarded as their most important season in terms of showcasing himself to college recruiters. Because Epps was still learning the game, rather than playing at the varsity level in a visible role, he missed out on the publicity that would have come from that.

Maddox said Epps' stock as a recruit was adversely affected by his later embrace of the game.

"If he had a junior year like he did this year, as a senior, he could have gone anywhere," Maddox said. "It would have been a who's who list in terms of the schools offering him. He has the measurables coaches are looking for. He's long. He's fast. He can catch and he can run. He's intelligent. In this day and age of recruiting if you don't get your name out there as a sophomore or junior a lot of people think, 'What's wrong with you?' I think that's one of the only mistakes colleges make. They don't factor in that development when a guy's a late bloomer."

Maddox said he believes Tommy Mangino was instrumental in helping Epps to land at Kentucky. Mangino is an offensive assistant who helps Lamar Thomas with Kentucky's receivers, and he was the receivers coach at Iowa State when Epps' brother, Carson, was being recruited by the Cyclones.

"I think Mangino convinced those guys to give him a look. He really liked what he saw on film," Maddox said. "You get that type of kid there, he's the total package. The intelligence and the skills, plus he's a team leader. Just like Carson was for us. Those leadership skills that he'll give you are hard to come by in this day and age. I think that was one of the big selling points."

https://kentucky.rivals.com/news/coach-s...his-stride