FB Recruiting

@IzayahCummings

The Cats played Yahtzee for the fourth time this weekend and this time there was some historical perspective behind the commitment. Louisville Male High School is apart of the biggest classification in the state of Kentucky and has won seven state championships (1960, 1963, 1964, 1993, 1998, 2015, 2018). Since the 6A classification was started in 2007, Male is one of only four schools to have brought home the hardware. They’re a football powerhouse in the state, but this entire time they have been a Louisville feeder program.

Former Male head coach Bob Redman won two state titles at Male and turned the school into legitimate competition for private school powers St. Xavier and Trinity. During this run, Redman’s son Chris was a blue-chip quarterback who would go onto great success at Louisville under John L. Smith and offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. Since then, nearly every FBS prospect out of Male would continue their careers at Louisville.

Everyone knows Michael Bush, but there have been a handful of others. Montrell Jones (who ended up at Louisville after a pit stop at Tennessee), Sergio Spencer, Doug Beaumont, Dexter Heyman, Keion Wakefield, and there’s plenty more. Male has kept all of their alums in the city while Kentucky, under numerous head coaches, could never crack through and land a scholarship athlete.

That now all changes with the addition of high three-star wide receiver Izayah Cummings. The 6-foot-3 wideout led Male with 597 receiving yards on 41 grabs with 11 touchdowns despite missing five games with a leg injury. Cummings pledged on his official visit to Kentucky this weekend and had a lot of interest from surrounding schools. Both Louisville and Purdue were heavily involved in his recruitment with Ohio State having him on campus for an unofficial visit while Vanderbilt. Vince Marrow is making some moves in the city of Louisville and this may be his biggest recruiting win for a bunch of different reasons.

Cummings is at his best on vertical routes. He’s an excellent go-route runner and does his best work when he is able stop, locate the football, and make a jump grab. On his tape, you will see many plays where the quarterback short arms the throw, but that just may be by design. Similar to a basketball player, Cummings goes up for a rebound and then shows some solid run after the catch ability. This is where he is at his best.

Due to his size (6-foot-3, 212 pounds) and athletic ability, Cummings does his best work in the red zone. On the road in the quarterfinals of the playoffs, Cummings comes up with a huge touchdown reception on third-and-11 to break a tie in the fourth quarter. The wideout runs your typical fade route and despite the safety bracketing Cummings over the top, Male still decides to toss up the jump ball.

Cummings essentially boxes out the safety while the corner goes running by. He high points the football and makes a clutch catch to help Male march towards a state championship. One of the best attributes Cummings presents is a big target in the red zone and this should translate to the college level.

The biggest issue that Cummings will need to address in college will be his route running and separation ability. At The Opening regional camp, he was clocked at 4.50 in the forty and that should be good enough to create consistent separation on pass routes. However, when you watch the tape, it seems that he struggles to create that consistent separation.

On the sluggo (slant-and-g0) route, Cummings stumbles just a bit and that prevents him from creating space. Thanks to the on target throw it doesn’t matter, but these are things at the next level he will have to work on. Cummings must improve on his technique in running routes. If he is able to become a true weapon on intermediate passes, that will make his ability to go vertical even harder for opposing corners to keep in check.

Cummings will enter Lexington in the class of 2020 as the first Male alum to go to Kentucky on a football scholarship in a very long time. He possesses the attributes that the Kentucky staff has had a hard time attracting on the recruiting. He’s a big, physical receiver who resembles some guys you would see on Sundays. He’s a true weapon in the vertical game and could be very reliable in the red zone.

Cummings has a lot to work on. He has the size and physical ability to be a dominant perimeter blocker, but that is to be determined. He must polish his route running ability because right now he is just a one-trick pony. However, that is a damn strong trick and he has a ton of potential. This is a big time recruiting win for a multitude of reasons and his play on the field should excite you alone.

@erniesands11

The dice continue to roll in Lexington with Mark Stoops and his staff picking up their 10th member in the class of 2020. The wide receiver position was a main focus for the football program this weekend with three prospects at that position taking their official visits. The Wildcats got a verbal from Jordan Watkins on Saturday evening and now they will add Earnest Sanders to the class.

Sanders will be the second Michigan pledge in this recruiting cycle joining consensus top-50 prospect Justin Rogers thanks to the recruiting work of corners coach Steve Clinkscale. The man they call Coach Clink is slowly becoming the staff’s second most valuable recruiter behind Vince Marrow and in Sanders the Wildcats are adding a high-three star recruit who had a ton of Power Five interest.

It’s time to step into the film room to breakdown Earnest Sanders’ game. In addition to being a football recruit, Sanders also has the ability to play basketball at the D-I level. He has some great athleticism and has shown some solid route running potential. He will be an outside receiver at Kentucky who will play the position at over 20o pounds.

One of the staples of the Eddie Gran offense has been teeing up deep shots after hammering opposing defenses with the running game and some quick passes. In 2016, Stephen Johnson made a bunch of big throws with the deep post and in the spring game we saw Terry Wilson make some big league throws on that same route. When you watch Earnest Sanders, it’s clear that this route is one of the best parts of his game.

The receiver is a long strider who gets to the top of his route very quickly. He makes a sharp plant step to get inside and that creates separation between the corner and the safety he ran by. He makes the big catch that results in six. This is exactly what Kentucky likes to do and Sanders fits that mold.

Speaking of those short routes to help setup the deep shot, Sanders is also a very effective receiver in the quick game. The Michigan native provides a big target to his quarterback and some impressive run after the catch ability to convert a fourth-and-short into a touchdown.

Sanders shows a little bit of wiggle to make the first two defenders miss on top of the balance to recover after reeling in the high pass. Those are nice, but the acceleration that the wideout shows is what you should be excited about. He takes off down the sideline and blitzes by the safety. The long strider can hit a high speed once he gets a few steps to pickup steam.

The deep balls are nice and the quick game is an easy way to pick up receptions, but at the end of the day a true outside receiver is going to be judged on what they do over the middle of the field. To move the chains and take advantage of the gaps in zone coverage, you need your outside guys to go across the middle and make some plays in traffic. There’s no doubt that Earnest Sanders is comfortable doing that.

On the slant he shows his numbers and makes a solid reception in between a couple of defenders. He then gets upfield and fights through a face mask grab to get to paydirt. Beecher High School asks for Sanders to go across the middle on slants and crossing routes very often and he is comfortable with making grabs in traffic. He will be asked to do the same in college.

At The Opening this spring, Sanders was clocked at 4.72 in the forty-yard dash and is listed at just six-foot tall. That’s a surprise when watching his tape. The Flint, Michigan native plays much bigger and faster than that. He appears to have a very long wingspan to give him a very large catch radius and shows plenty of acceleration to make big time plays in open space.

At the high school level, Sanders is asked to do a lot. Beecher uses him in the wildcat formation, on reverses, constantly puts him in motion, and to do just about everything for them on offense. In addition to that, he plays safety on defense and has the ability to play that in college on top of his basketball skills on the hardwood.

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— ??????? ??????? ?? ??? (@erniesands11) July 13, 2018

The receiver has been wanted by a ton of schools on the recruiting trail. Offensive gurus Neal Brown, Jeff Brohm and Mike Leach each wanted him in their offense. Big Ten powers Michigan State and Penn State have been in hot pursuit. This is another solid recruiting win for Kentucky. Earnest Sanders is a straight up football player who will find his way onto the field. Of all the tapes I have evaluated this spring, this one was the best I’ve seen in the 2020 class. Sanders has a ton of tools and is the exact type of player UK has struggled to attract. A playmaking outside receiver who can effect the passing game at all three levels. Give props to Steve Clinkscale for continuing to do damage in Michigan, but there are still some more big fish in that state remaining on Kentucky’s recruiting board.

@almightybugg

The dice are rolling in Lexington with Kentucky landing three-star offensive lineman Joshua Jones out of Phenix City, Alabama. The small town is located right on the Chattahoochee River on the Alabama-Georgia state line and produces FBS talent quite frequently. Jones had a ton of interest from some big time schools and in the end decided to pick Kentucky over LSU. Also included on his list were Florida State, Ole Miss, and Tennessee. The 6-foot-5 and 298-pound offensive line prospect is absolutely a fit for what John Schlarman likes to have on the interior.

Joshua Jones plays right tackle for his Phenix City Central team, but it’s expected that Kentucky will move him to guard when he gets to Lexington. When at the college level, UK’s scheme will call on the Jones to move around and pull to pick up play side linebackers on power run plays. Here he shows a little bit of the required athletic ability.

On this counter play, the running back appears to move too fast on the hesitation fake and that puts Jones in a bad spot. The big guy gets to the run blitzing linebacker and delivers a punishing blow that puts the defender into the dirt. The play is, for the most part, blown up but you see the physical strength and power that Jones possesses.

Evaluating high school offensive linemen can be very difficult due to the fact that when they are playing football with pads against defensive players that are much, much smaller. For any high school lineman that is around 300 pounds that is going to be the case and Jones is no different. When watching them it is important to look for motor, technique, and leg drive. Jones shows some of those skills on this play.

Jones loses the battle at the beginning of the play due to hand placement. The right tackle is beat to the point of attack by the defensive end and is at first knocked back. Due to this, his hands go outside and this immediately gives the defensive player the advantage. However, that happens some and any good offensive lineman must have quality recovery skills. Jones flashes those behind some brute force. Once he is locked on with his hands it is hard for the defender to break away and create separation. Once the defender tries to get outside, Jones buries him with leg drive. He’s got some issues to iron out, but the big guy has some tools that are hard to teach.

You want power? He’s got power.

It’s pretty easy to see why UK’s staff was so enamored with Joshua Jones. He’s an athletic kid who will easily play at around 320 pounds in college. Add that solid weight on to his 6-foot-5 frame and he physically looks like a really good SEC offensive lineman. Despite playing strictly tackle in high school, he’s a scheme fit for what Kentucky likes in offensive guards. Derrick LeBlanc was his primary recruiter and this was his biggest recruiting win since joining the staff prior to the 2017 season.

Kentucky has shown they are not afraid to have tall guards and there have been many projected tackles (Luke Fortner, Logan Stenberg, Mason Wolfe) who have turned into full-time guards once they get on campus. Jones has some next level power in run blocking and is doing it all without great technique. Once he gets some seasoning and is able to play out of a three-point stance at Kentucky, that physicality should become even more powerful. He’ll have a lot to prove in pass protection, but he is exactly what UK wants in an offensive guard prospect. This was a very solid deep south recruiting win for Kentucky and it feels like the Wildcats are on their way to an excellent offensive line haul.

Who will be the next to join the 2020 class?