LEXINGTON — Kentucky football’s 2024 recruiting class finished 25th nationally, per the 247Sports Composite rankings. That ranked 11th among the 14 schools competing in the SEC last season.
The road ahead is even tougher: Oklahoma and Texas will be part of the league when the 2024 campaign kicks off.
Still, the Wildcats‘ 2024 recruiting haul marked only the fourth time in coach Mark Stoops‘ tenure — dating back to his first signing class in 2013 — the program inked a class that ranked among the country’s 25 best. (The other occurrences were 2014, 2020 and 2022.) Stoops aims to make the 2025 cycle yet another top-25 effort.
But UK is taking its time with 2025 prospects: It has only three commits so far.
Quarterback Stone Saunders got the ball rolling for the Wildcats’ 2025 class, committing in August. Kentucky didn’t add another player to the class until Feb. 5, when wide receiver Quintin Simmons Jr. joined the group. A third offensive player gave his pledge Friday night, when Philadelphia running back Isaiah West committed to UK.
Bookmark this page as The Courier Journal tracks Kentucky’s 2025 class, which ranks 42nd nationally as of Friday night:
Kentucky football recruiting 2025 commitments
Stone Saunders
Position: Quarterback
High School: Bishop McDevitt (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
247Sports Composite rating: 4 stars
Commitment status: Verbally committed Aug. 4, 2023
What to know: Saunders picked UK over his four other finalists (Georgia, Miami, Michigan and Nebraska) during a live appearance on ABC27 News, an affiliate in Harrisburg, on Aug. 4, 2023. Saunders is a four-star prospect, per the 247Sports Composite ratings, ranking as the No. 27 QB nationally and the No. 12 player in Pennsylvania. The four major recruiting services are split on his talent; Rivals and ESPN each gave him four stars, while 247Sports and On3 assessed him as a three-star prospect. Saunders led Bishop McDevitt to a 13-1 record and a spot in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 4A state semifinals last season. Per MaxPreps, he threw for 3,522 yards and 56 touchdowns against five interceptions in 2023. His TD total led the state, and his passing yardage ranked second. In 2022, Saunders won the MaxPreps Pennsylvania High School Football Player of the Year award after powering Bishop McDevitt to its first state championship since 1995. That season, he tossed 54 touchdowns against five interceptions and notched four games with six touchdown passes and two more with five.
Quintin Simmons Jr.
Position: Wide receiver
High School: Withrow (Cincinnati)
247Sports Composite rating: 4 stars
Commitment status: Verbally committed Feb. 5
What to know: A four-star wideout, Simmons Jr. chose UK on Feb. 5 over his other five finalists: Cincinnati, Michigan, Penn State, Syracuse and West Virginia. Per the 247Sports Composite, Simmons is the No. 30 WR in the 2025 cycle and the No. 10 overall player in Ohio in his class. According to The (Cincinnati) Enquirer, Simmons had 31 catches for 533 yards and eight touchdowns to go along with 119 yards and three more scores on the ground in 11 games for Withrow last season. That came on the heels of a 2022 campaign in which he hauled in 40 passes for 556 yards and five touchdowns. Simmons helped Withrow set a single-season school record for wins (12) in 2023, reaching the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Division II, Region 8 championship game. He was high school teammates with Terhyon Nichols, a defensive back who is part of the Wildcats’ 2024 signing class.
Isaiah West
Position: Running back
High School: St. Joseph’s Preparatory School (Philadelphia)
247Sports Composite rating: N/A (not yet rated by 247Sports)
Commitment status: Verbally committed March 1
What to know: West, who plays for St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia, picked Kentucky on Friday night. UK was his choice among four finalists, a group that included Nebraska, North Carolina and Wisconsin. A 6-foot, 208-pound tailback, West announced his decision on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. West was one of the many visitors on hand for Kentucky’s junior day event in Lexington last month. He has not yet been evaluated by 247Sports, but the three other major recruiting services (Rivals, On3 and ESPN) all tabbed West a three-star prospect. During his high school career at St. Joe’s, he was teammates with David Washington Jr., a wide receiver signee in the Wildcats’ 2024 recruiting class.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football recruiting 2025 class: See every Wildcats commit
