Kentucky’s staff is turning a road trip to College Station into a recruiting swing through Texas.
With the Wildcats set to face Texas A&M on Saturday, the program is spending Friday night under the lights in the Lone Star State, making the most of a week when it can’t lean on a home game at Kroger Field to bring prospects to campus. Will Stein has said he does his best recruiting on Saturdays, and Kentucky is still using the matchup to get in front of talent.
Texas isn’t a traditional pipeline for the Wildcats, but that is starting to shift. A big reason is the staff itself.
Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman and Stars coach James Gibson both recruited at Texas A&M for the last two years. Starting linebacker Bo Barnes, a Dallas native, already knew UK linebackers coach from his high school days before entering the transfer portal.
Tight ends coach Justin Burke and wide receivers coach Joe Price III also bring Texas ties from their time at UTSA.
Price, who is known around Houston as “East Side Joe,” is back in his hometown on Friday. His background runs deep in the area: his father coached high school football for 30 years, and Price spent 10 years in the Houston high school ranks before moving up the college ladder.
Alex Brown, Kentucky’s new assistant general manager, is also from Texas and previously worked at Rice, SMU, and Houston. He was on the Cougars’ staff when Greg Ward and Ed Oliver upset Lamar Jackson’s Cards back in 2016, the game before his infamous fumble.
Houston sits just 90 miles from College Station, and Kentucky is using that proximity to its advantage. Price is checking in on some of the top pass-catchers in the country, including Jaylen Addai, the son of former Indianapolis Colt Joseph Addai.
Addai is the sixth-ranked player in the 2028 class. Price is also spending time with four-star receiver Carter St.
Junious before heading to see four-star receiver Dillon Mitchell’s game on Friday night.
Brown is on the other side of town for Katy’s game against Katy Jordan. Kentucky’s list there includes 2029 wide receiver Rush Williams, 2028 running back Antonio Booker, and 2028 four-star cornerback David Olotu-Judah. The Wildcats are also taking a look at a couple of 2027 prospects who are already committed elsewhere.
Katy should sound familiar to Kentucky fans. It’s the same school that sent wide receiver Nic Anderson and cornerback Isaiah McMillian to Lexington. McMillian, a true freshman, has started both games so far and has posted 10 tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss, and a pass breakup.
Texas keeps producing talent, and Kentucky is treating this trip as another chance to get blue jerseys in front of elite prospects from the state.
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The last Kentucky win over Texas A&M came in 1952, a reminder of just how long this road has been. The teams have not played often, but their most recent meeting in 2018 ended with a Texas A&M overtime victory, leaving Kentucky with another reminder of how hard this matchup has been to crack. [Read more 🡒]