UK Football Offers a 7th Grader
Do you know who the best 7th grade Cornerback in the country is? Of course you don’t, likely because you get out in the sunlight from time to time. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t out there and coaches don’t know about him. Louisville native Jairus Brents has been offered a scholarship by UK as a 7th grader. Yes, you read that correctly. Brents told ESPN.com that UK offered it to him after “they watched the film [of the camp] and said I was working really hard and that I stood out and then he offered me [a scholarship].” He is considered to be a special talent, who is often matched up with kids who are Seniors in high school. According to his godfather, Brents was matched up with 2014 receivers at the UK camp and had three interceptions during the proceedings. That seems impressive. You can read more about his exploits in this ESPN story.
Offering 7th graders seems a bit much to me, but what do I know. I do know that as part of getting ready for this story, I watched a couple of minutes of the video below, which is a 7th grader doing football drills to the sounds of motivational music. So we all have our crosses to bear. But seriously, he does look like he can play…and UK could use some defensive backfield help this year:
43 Comments for UK Football Offers a 7th Grader
We mocked Billy Clyde for this…
Will Stoops still be here when he’s a senior?
Im all about the job Stoops is doing, but this garbage makes us look stupid
Why don’t you go ahead and have a seat there, Coach Stoops.
STOOOOOOOOOOOOOPID!
1, I was thinking the same thing. Is the stress getting to Coach? Will he be drinking Dr Pepper and getting kicked out of Sal’s soon?
maybe the kid should have mowed the lawn before tripping all over the grass..this has got to be a joke
Fear the Warrior!!!
Just saw this on ESPN.com and had to come verify here. I’m ashamed…
USC did it, and the scholarship can be taken away.
Umm…yeah…about this. Not happy. I made fun of BCG, and USC and UCLA have been getting heat for offering 8th graders. This is embarrassing.
Kid can say anything he wants but I want to hear it from one of our coaches but since they cannt talk about recruits we wont know for several years but I have my doubts about this one. Stoops and company have shown they are top notch recruiters.
Yeah some of you fans are pathetic, let’s criticize the coach that has brought life back into the program. Why in any way is this embarrasing? coaches do this all they time, Nick Saban does this for God sakes, I’ll trust in the coaches while you all continue to criticize everything that seems partially taboo.
Is it silly? yes. But is it uncommon? no. As 10 said, USC did the same thing with a 7th grader and there’s also a link below the story in espn that says UCLA offered an 8th grade QB. In Stoops & Co. I trust until given reason not to
1 – no, we thought Billy Gillispie was an innovator at the time…. Then 5 years later when the kid turned out to be just mediocre, we mocked him.
So, for now, Stoops is an innovator. I’ll get back to you in 5 years with the verdict.
Smh
places like Bama and UCLA do this too. Big deal.
Anyone who doubts Stoops is a moron. The kid picked off 3 of his NCAA Division 1 receivers. I would have offered him too. In 5 years, they can always pull the offer or tell him he’d be better of elsewhere. Its not like we don’t have 25 scholarships a year to burn.
The difference is this kid was evaluated against kids five grades ahead of him. He went toe to toe with players who are physically and mentally more mature than he is.
“Vaughn lives in Louisville after playing at both Louisville and Notre Dame, which was followed by a short stint with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints. Vaughn is the founder of a training facility in Louisville and works with Brents as well as some of the area’s top prospects.”
Anyone else suspect this is more about making in-roads with the kids Godfather at this point? Seems like a good man to have on your side in Louisville.
Any word or rumblings about the possible Yahtzee today??
He needs to mow that yard full of clover so that he can save up enought money for a new bike.
I don’t see anything wrong with this, he’s keeping up with guys five to six years older than he is, plus it’s also called keeping the poker in the fire. If that kid turns out to be a five star by the time he’s a senior, who’ll have the lead. In his recruitment…Stoops Troops!!!!!!!!
Offering a 7th graer? How STUPID are you Stoops??? You must be really stupid to stoop this low and offer a 7th grader. Come on Son and grow up!!!!
nick saban offered a 8th grader a few months ago. u dont see this often but it does happen to some teams to get the leg up on competition. i dont like it either. anything can happen till now to their senior year. all i know is someone better not tell penn state about this. they will be all on this. lol
#24 that stupid coach you’re talking about is pulling in what could possibly be the best UK recruiting class in history. Stoops is hardly anything but stupid……… And if that was sarcasm (the way it was written seems that way, I’m sorry and i agree people are over reacting.)
26. all the more reason he shouldnt do it
Anyone who see’s this as a big deal should murder themselves
So ok geniuses. What age is the cutoff? 7th graders can be 12 years old. Which age is too young? 11, 10, 9…? The fact is there’s something off about offering pre-teens scholarships to college. You can argue about the age, but at some point, it’s too young, even for all of you “Stoops can do no wrong” apologists. Seems to me, they should at least be in high school. That may be an arbitrary number for some of you, but it makes sense to me.
Stoops has been tearing it up recently. And I personally love what he’s done so far. However, he is not above reproach. I don’t care if UCLA, USC, and Alabama are doing it, I want no part of it.
#EverybodyStoops
but seriously, we can’t praise billy G for this when he was here, and then mock him for it after he leaves (and mock tom crean for doing it), and now think it’s ok when our current football coach does the same thing.
it’s stupid
I think the real issue at hand is whether he is a rising 7th grader or just completed the 7th grade. In one instance, this is laughable; in the other, it’s genius(sarcasm)
I’m ashamed to say I just watched that awful video..
Can Someone Please Explain What Could Come For The Program Or This Young Football Player From This Offer? The Cons Of Doing This, And Why Some Of You Are Acting Like Coach Just Committed A Crime. Jesus The Kid Now Has A Guideline Of Self Respect And Work Ethic Which He Is Going To Have To Live With Thru High School. He Will Be The Kid His Teammates Look Up To. Just Dont Get The Heavy Criticism Here.
33- Is that you Matt Elam?
The difference between this and Billy Clyde’s offers were that BCG’s kids turned out to be scrubs. It might be pretty obvious to Coach Stoops that this kid will be a D-I level player and he’s just trying to make in-roads with him and other Louisville prospects. You can’t criticize Stoops until we see this kid not become a solid D-I prospect. In all reality, though, there is nothing wrong with offering a scholarship to a kid. Some of you criticize everything. I would like to punch you in the face, I swear.
35-no, i think the difference is in 20’s post
He played baseball with my son. He is a great kid in addition to being a great athlete. I am very happy for him. He does work very hard at everything he does.
Does anyone know what middle school this kid plays for?
You’re really stretching it when you offer a 7th grader…..guess Stoop’s recent recruiting success finally exploded that head of his……
Here’s the reality of the situation: This “verbal” offer (which is all that is allowed) may have been no more than a “Hey kid, you’re great. Keep working hard and come play for me at UK one day.” That statement probably constitutes an “offer” in the literal sense, but is not binding on anyone. That’s likely what’s going on here.
But, even if it was an “official” verbal offer, it can be revoked at anytime by UK and can’t officially be accepted by the kid until he’s a junior in HS.
In other words, it means nothing. Stoops bought a lottery ticket that he may cash in huge or just throw away in 5 years.
Watch out for another 2018 prospect in Lexington kentucky playing in fayette county. You will notice the person when you see him.
Hal Mumme offered Michael Bush as an 8th grader. Bush turned out to fairly decent. These coaches are paid to evaluate talent, so far they seem to have done a decent job. So if they think this young man can play at the next level who are we who have not seen him play say he is not worthy of an offer.
Whoever offered him is going to have to register with the authorities and won’t be able to live within 1000 yards of a school.