Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Kentucky football started July with quite a hot recruiting streak as it landed four-star athlete Elijah Groves of Tennessee, four-star defensive back Terhyon Nichols of Cincinnati and three-star defensive back Quaysheed Scott of South Carolina in a three-day span.

“All of the work was done in June to land these commitments,” said 247Sports/Cats Pause recruiting analyst Josh Edwards. “They just didn’t announce until July.

“With the exception of Scott, all three took official visits to UK last month and they obviously went very well. It’s just a matter of building those relationships and being consistent. I think UK does that as well as anyone.”

Edwards said being able to attract high school defensive stalwarts fills obvious needs.

“Kentucky has had upperclassmen playing in the secondary and linebacker. Once those COVID seniors moved on, it created an opportunity for others but it also created a need for players at those positions,” Edwards said.

“UK has seen Groves and Scott work out in person over the past few months. Groves is a top-150 recruit at 247Sports now but he wasn’t when they offered. They don’t care about rankings as much as they trust their own evaluations and identify players that fit the culture in the locker room.”

Edward thinks UK’s “hot streak” will cool because the number of roster spots available is smaller. The Wildcats now have 13 commitments in the 2024 recruiting class.

“They still have some big targets, like edge rusher Brian Robinson, running back Jason Patterson and wide receiver Hardley Gilmore, to announce but the sheer volume of potential commitments has gone down drastically over the past few weeks,” Edwards said.