[LeeCoUKFan]

Sousa among Florida prospects hearing UK buzz

Justin Rowland
Special to CatsIllustrated.com

Orlando is a long way from Lexington but junior football prospects in Florida have heard about the buzz surrounding the Kentucky football program.

That's a credit to what Mark Stoops and his staff have done in short order, and they haven't even coached a game yet.

[Image: http://vmedia.rivals.com/IMAGES/PROSPECT.../SOUSA.JPG]

Orlando (Fla.) Lake Nona wide receiver Ryan Sousa has plenty of options already. Boston College, Cincinnati, Missouri, Purdue, Rutgers, USF, UCF, UCLA, Wake Forest and Wisconsin have already offered the 6-foot, 180-pound receiver. Kentucky entered the picture with an offer just last week. The Wildcats offered on the same day Wisconsin did the same.

"I'm blessed to have all the offers I have," Sousa told Cats Illustrated shortly after learning of the offer. "Kentucky is doing a lot of great things and they play in the SEC. I'm just open to all schools right now and focused on being better."

He was hoping to show his improvement at the Orlando NFTC over the weekend and by all accounts he did just that. Rivals.com Southeast regional analyst Woody Wommack rated Sousa as the sixth-best offensive recruit at the training camp.

"Sousa is the kind of wide receiver that quarterbacks love to play with because if the ball is anywhere in his vicinity he can find a way to haul it in. Saturday he showed great hands as well as an excellent ability to go up and get the ball. He also has a nice burst, allowing him to get separation down the field on deep balls," Wommack said.

Praise like that makes it easy to understand why Kentucky and others have offered. The Wildcats had plenty of success recruiting Florida with just two months to go prior to Signing Day, and receiver is one of the positions they did especially well with. Alex Montgomery and Jeff Badet were Sunshine State receivers that joined Kentucky late in the process.

Sousa told Cats Illustrated that he receives hand written letters daily from Tommy Mainord, Vince Marrow and others on the staff.

"They're telling me they want me to be a part of the BBN (Big Blue Nation)," Sousa said.

"Everything is wide open. I'll probably trip (to Kentucky) in April and June with coach Anthony Paradiso, my head football coach."

Paradiso will play a big role in Sousa's recruitment as the two have a close relationship.

What does Sousa think of playing in the SEC?

"It would be great to play in any conference that has a chance to play in a BCS bowl game," he said.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1487686