The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Jacob Kauwe
4 stars Signed Dec. 20 Boley is a generational commit for the Wildcats. Per 247Sports all-time rankings, which date to 2000, he’s the second-most highly regarded signal-caller to commit to UK, behind only Drew Barker. He picked Kentucky over his four other finalists: Florida State, Michigan, Penn State and Tennessee. “They’ve got something special going on over there with the offense and everything, and I just want to be a part of it,” Boley said after his announcement May 18. “I grew up a Kentucky fan. I’ve always bled blue since I was young.” Boley, who will enroll in January, had been part of the 2025 class. At that time, all four major recruiting services (Rivals, ESPN, 247Sports and On3) ranked him as the No. 1 player in the state in 2025. Boley completed 63.5% (254 for 400) of his attempts last season for 3,901 yards and 36 touchdowns (against 15 interceptions). He also scored six times on the ground. Boley led Lexington Christian Academy to the Class 2A semifinals, finishing with a 9-5 record in 2022.
Cam Dooley
Position: Defensive back
High School: Valley High School (Valley, Alabama)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: Dooley became the Wildcats’ final commitment during the early signing period Dec. 20. He previously had committed to Missouri in July but later decommitted. Dooley played both ways for Valley High in Alabama, but he will line up in the secondary for Kentucky. According to the 247Sports Compsite, Dooley is the No. 36 player in Alabama in the 2024 cycle.
Hardley Gilmore
Position: Wide receiver
High School: Pahokee High School (Pahokee, Florida)
247Sports Composite rating: 4 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: The 6-foot-1, 165pound wideout committed to the Wildcats over his other two finalists, Penn State and Central Florida. According to the 247Sports Composite, Gilmore is the No. 44 wide receiver in the nation and the No. 297 overall player in the country. Gilmore, who reclassified from the 2025 class to 2024 earlier this summer, finished last season with 43 catches for 1,003 yards and nine touchdowns. Also playing defense, he added 21 tackles, three interceptions and eight passes defended in 12 games, helping Pahokee reach the Class 1R region finals.
Hayes Johnson
Position: Offensive lineman
High School: Taylor County High School (Campbellsville)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: Kentucky’s first head-to-head meeting on the recruiting trail with new Louisville coach Jeff Brohm went the Wildcats’ way. “For a boy growing up in Kentucky playing sports, he’s got two dreams. He either wants to be a Louisville Cardinal or a Kentucky Wildcat,” Johnson said at his announcement ceremony. “I wear Kentucky blue.” Aside from Louisville, Johnson’s other finalists were Baylor, Michigan State and Tennessee. Johnson is ranked as the state’s No. 8 overall prospect in the 2024 class, per the 247Sports Composite. He earned thirdteam all-state honors in Class 3A last year, as Johnson helped Taylor County rank among the top 15 in its classification in points per game (31.7) and rushing yards (2,873 total, 261.2 per game).
Position: Kicker/punter
High School: Billings West (Billings, Montana)
Kohl’s rating: 5 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: A 6-foot-2, 200pound prospect from Montana, Kauwe committed to Kentucky on June 20, giving Jay Boulware his first pledge from a specialist since he was hired as the Wildcats’ special teams coordinator in December. Kohl’s Professional Camp, which trains kickers, punters and long snappers year-round, rates Kauwe as a five-star prospect at both kicker and punter. “His leg strength is unique and as strong as some in the NFL,” Kohl’s wrote on Kauwe’s profile page. “Kauwe still needs refinement with his hands in punting and improvement on his repeatability on field goals.” At the Kohl’s spring ranking event in March, Kauwe had multiple 80-yard kickoffs and made 12 of 15 field-goal attempts in windy conditions. He also launched a 70-yard punt with 4.4-second hang time. Kauwe is the first Montana high school player to sign with UK this millennium.
Jiquavious Marshall
Position: Defensive back
High School: Westside High School (Macon, Georgia)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: Marshall committed to the Wildcats on June 21, hours after running back Tovani Mizell. Marshall is listed as an athlete, playing both wide receiver and defensive back for Westside High in Macon. But UK recruited him to play defense. Per 247Sports, which lists Marshall at 6-foot-3 1⁄2, he caught 35 passes for 548 yards and six touchdowns to go along with 31 tackles, seven pass breakups and two interceptions last season as Westside finished 7-4 in Georgia’s Class 4A. He is a consensus three-star prospect. His pledge came a week after he visited Lexington. Marshall also visited Florida State, N.C. State, Ohio State and West Virginia earlier this year. He held offers from that quartet as well as numerous other Power Five schools, including Duke, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pittsburgh and Virginia.
Tovani Mizell
Position: Running back
High School: Western High School (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: Mizell, a 6-foot, 200pound running back from Florida, announced his commitment to Kentucky on June 21, during an appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio. He later confirmed his pledge to UK on his personal Twitter account. Mizell committed to Georgia, the two-time defending national champion, in August 2022 before decommitting this spring. He took an official visit to North Carolina in June before picking Kentucky. During his sophomore season at Cardinal Newman High in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2021, Mizell tallied 1,097 yards (616 rushing, 481 receiving) and 14 touchdowns, per 247Sports. Athletic talent is in his bloodlines: His cousin, Aiden Mizell, was a four-star receiver prospect in the 2023 class who is now enrolled at
Florida.
Marc Nave
Position: Offensive lineman
High School: Central Catholic High School (Toledo, Ohio)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: The 6-foot-5, 320pound Nave committed to in-state powerhouse Ohio State in March. But he decommitted from the Buckeyes in September. A month and a half later, he became a Wildcats pledge. A consensus three-star prospect, Nave earned firstteam all-state honors from the Ohio Prep Sports Writers Association in Ohio’s Division III. Nave is the No. 25 player in Ohio in the 2024 cycle, per the 247Sports Composite.
Terhyon Nichols
Position: Cornerback
High School: Withrow (Cincinnati) 247Sports Composite rating: 4 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: Nichols became the Wildcats’ third four-star recruit the night of July 2, and the first from Ohio this cycle. The 6-foot, 180-pound junior is the 20th-ranked corner in the nation and ninth overall in Ohio, according to 247Sports Composite rankings. He has 69 career tackles, three forced fumbles, an interception and a fumble recovery, according to Cincinnati.com, and was named first-team All-Ohio last season. Nichols had 30 offers and had narrowed his finalists to Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and UK in May.
Jason Patterson
Position: Running back
High School: Sneads High School (Sneads, Florida)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: UK had been a finalist for Patterson’s services when he made his original commitment in August; back then, he picked Cincinnati. But Kentucky never stopped recruiting him, and its persistence paid off — he decommitted from the Bearcats on Nov. 14 and joined the Wildcats’ class that same day. A 5-foot-11, 200-pound tailback, Patterson led the state of Florida in rushing yards (2,721) in 2022, according to MaxPreps.
Caleb Redd
Position: Edge
High School: De Smet Jesuit High School (St. Louis)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: The Wildcats picked up their first pass rusher of the 2024 recruiting class with Redd’s verbal commitment June 28. The 6-foot-4, 215pound defensive end/outside linebacker is the No. 3 prospect in Missouri and 54th overall edge rusher in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. He held offers from 21 schools, including Cincinnati, Kansas State, USC, Oregon and multiple Big Ten programs. An all-state first-team defense honoree by the Missouri Football Coaches Association in December, Redd had 21 sacks, 60 tackles and a defensive touchdown as a junior, according to his Hudl page.
Brian Robinson
Position: Edge
High School: Westerville North High School (Westerville, Ohio) 247Sports Composite rating: 4 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: The crown jewel of the Wildcats’ 2024 haul, Robinson is the top-ranked player in Kentucky’s class, committing Oct. 4. And per 247Sports’ all-time recruiting rankings, he’s one of the highest-ranked prospects to commit to UK; his rating (0.9437) is the ninth best among Kentucky signees since the beginning of the century. A 6-foot-5, 255-pound defender, Robinson is the No. 7 player in Ohio (regardless of position), the No. 9 edge prospect nationally and the country’s No. 128 player in the 2024 cycle, per 247Sports’ Composite rankings.
Willie Rodriguez
Position: Tight end
High School: Covington Catholic High School (Park Hills)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: His June 23 commitment made him the fifth pledge in five days for the Wildcats’ 2024 class. Prior to breaking his elbow last season, Rodriguez caught 14 passes for 295 yards and five touchdowns in six games, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. He also collected 10 tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery. The 6-foot-4, 240pound Rodriguez officially visited Kentucky during a major recruiting weekend for the program June 9-11. Rodriguez is a consensus three-star recruit, per 247Sports, Rivals and On3. Before committing to UK, Rodriguez also held offers from a plethora of Power Five schools, including in-state rival Louisville and SEC rivals Arkansas, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Quaysheed Scott
Position: Defensive back
High School: Marion High School (Marion, South Carolina)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: Scott, a 6-foot, 180pound defensive back, provided some fireworks for the Wildcats on July 4, making his commitment on Independence Day. He earned an offer from UK after participating in one of the team’s camps in June. “I was happy but I was not shocked because I was going for it. Most people probably wouldn’t have went that far to get an offer,” Scott told CatsPause.com. “They like that I was greedy. I wanted to get an offer and I came out to compete.” During his camp visit, Scott clocked a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash, according to Kentucky Sports Radio. Scott played both ways at Marion High School last season. Per KSR, he scored 26 touchdowns and tallied 1,480 yards (940 receiving, 540 rushing) of total offense. He added 64 tackles, seven interceptions and four pass breakups. Two of his cousins have played in the SEC: Cam Smith was an all-conference defensive back at South Carolina (201922) before the Miami Dolphins selected him in the second round of this year’s NFL draft; defensive tackle T.J. Sanders had a breakout season in 2023 with the Gamecocks. Sanders had 43 tackles, including 10 1⁄2 tackles for loss and 5 1⁄2 sacks.
Aba Selm
Position: Offensive lineman
High School: Simon Kenton High School (Independence)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: One of the only instate prospects ranked ahead of Johnson in 2024 is Selm. The 6-4, 295-pound Selm is the Bluegrass State’s No. 4 recruit in his class, per the 247Sports Composite. He committed to UK on Feb. 2, one week after Johnson. “They’re a big O-line school,” Selm told Kentucky Sports Radio. “I love the way their offensive line plays, especially the technique that’s used to teach their players and help them develop for the next level.” Selm also held offers from U of L, Cincinnati, Illinois, Missouri and Penn State. He was an all-state selection in 2022, playing both offense and defense for Simon Kenton. Offensively, the Pioneers averaged 39.1 points and 298 rushing yards per game. Though he’s shown talent as a defender (35 tackles, four tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, two sacks as a junior), the Wildcats recruited Selm to play on the interior of the offensive line, where he’d line up at center or one of the guard positions.
Antwan Smith
Position: Linebacker
High School: Westlake High School (Atlanta)
247Sports Composite rating: 3 stars Commitment status: Signed Dec. 20 What to know: After three offensive players committed to start the 2024