[LeeCoUKFan]

Cats still in the mix wit Texas OL Barrett

Justin Rowland
Special to CatsIllustrated.com

Dallas Skyline offensive tackle Ty Barrett recently listed his six favorite schools and Kentucky was in the mix. He's got a lot of positive things to say about UK.

The Wildcats have their work cut out for them. Ole Miss, Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are among the other schools he's looking at the hardest, and those schools are all closer to home.

Barrett is at least intent on visiting Lexington and feels like he owes it to himself to see what it's like.

"I mainly like Kentucky because of the coaching staff. The first day they could come into Dallas they came in to the school," Barrett said.

"Coach (Tommy) Mainord is recruiting me and their coaching staff has just always been around. They've always been with me."

Even before they were at Kentucky.

"Coach Brown gave me my second offer when he was at Texas Tech," he recalled.

Barrett is impressed with the coaching staff at UK and it helps that three assistants have ties to Texas Tech, an in-state school. But there's a lot more he likes about the Cats, even though he has never visited.

"Coach Mainord was talking to me and he showed me the schedule this year. They're playing Georgia and all these schools. It's the toughest schedule in the country," he said. "They've also got a top recruiting class and a top quarterback coming in, and he's been recruiting me a little bit.

"I'm trying to get up there but I don't have (a date) yet. I'm trying to visit Ole Miss, too."

The 6-foot-4, 309-pound lineman is ranked the No. 45 offensive tackle in the nation by Rivals.com.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1514910