Will Stein Doesn't Shy Away from In-State Recruiting Miss

Recruiting is the lifeblood of a program. New coaches typically use that line during introductory press conferences. Will Stein did not share that quote verbatim, but he’s made that abundantly clear since he took the job at Kentucky.

A hands-on recruiter, Stein has prioritized keeping the best players from the Commonwealth in Kentucky. Unfortunately, he got some bad news over the weekend.

Seneca Driver, the top-ranked tight end in the country, plays high school football at Boyle County, just a short drive down the road from Lexington. Stein’s staff gained some early traction in his recruitment, but over the weekend, Driver committed to play for Oklahoma during an unofficial visit to Norman’s “Future Freaks Weekend.”

On Monday morning’s KSR, Matt Jones asked Stein about his recruiting approach, particularly in the state of Kentucky. Rather than shrugging off the loss, he faced it head-on, while complying with NCAA rules that prohibit coaches from publicly commenting on unsigned recruits.

“Recruiting always starts within your state. No matter where I’ve been, you have to win the state, always. Obviously, not to mention names, we got — you know what it is,” Stein referred to Driver. “That’s something you can’t allow to happen. It can’t. We have to win the state, especially when you have extremely talented players, which I’m excited about in this ’27 class, the guys that are here.”

Kentucky has already received commitments from a pair of in-state prospects, IOL Brady Hull and ATH Larron Westmoreland, in a talent-rich 2027 class. Even so, Driver is a special talent. You rarely see the No. 18 player in the country call Kentucky home.

Tight End Production Could Help Kentucky

Oklahoma is a brand name with a former All-Pro tight end, Jason Witten, coaching the position. That’s an easy sell. Stein can sell his offense as one who gets his tight ends opportunities. He did that with multiple players at Oregon, and he’s a couple of good ones preparing to suit up for Kentucky this fall, starting with Willie Rodriguez.

“He’s got a ton of talent, ton of talent. He’s extremely willing to put his face on people on-block. I think he can be a real matchup problem for teams in the slot and even on the perimeter. And he’s a Kentucky kid. This place means a lot to him,” said Stein.

“Obviously, we had Kenyon Sadiq at Oregon, who is a special, rare talent. We also had Terrance Ferguson there, and this past season, we even had Jamari Johnson. So tight ends in our offense have traditionally done really well. So I’m excited about him. I was glad, really glad that he decided to come back to be a wildcat, and that was somebody we definitely wanted to keep.”

Kentucky can stay in the fight for Driver by showing a proof of concept this fall. The Wildcats will certainly try to bring Driver into BBN, but if it doesn’t work out, Stein will continue to relentlessly recruit the right players for the Wildcats.

“But here’s what I’m gonna tell you, too, right? I’m not gonna beg, man, I’m not. You either want to be a part of this or you don’t. We have every resource possible to go find great players,” Stein told KSR.

“The way that you recruit is still old-school. It’s still communication, still waking kids up in the morning and putting them to bed at night, still touching everybody in their life that matters to them, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, coaches, trainers, and now agents. That’s still the way to recruit. So it’s our job to always start within the confines of the Commonwealth, and then we’ll go wherever we need to. I’ve said it before, I’ll go to Alaska. I’ll go to freaking wherever to get the best players possible for us to go win and win the way that we want to.”