[LeeCoUKFan]

DeBerry draws impressive list of early offers

Justin Rowland
Special to CatsIllustrated.com

Richmond (Va.) St. Christopher's outside linebacker Ricky DeBerry is one of the nation's top Class of 2015 prospects. His offer list is evidence of that.

Most high school sophomore football players only dream about picking up a few offers one day. DeBerry already has an impressive offer sheet.

[Image: http://vmedia.rivals.com/IMAGES/PROSPECT...18_200.JPG]

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker's teammate, Garrett Taylor, picked up an offer from Kentucky earlier this year. Taylor is a sophomore as well.

DeBerry and Taylor have both been in contact with Kentucky assistant coach Derrick Ansley dating back to his days at Tennessee, so that has given the Wildcats an opportunity they might not have otherwise had with the sophomore phenoms.

Over the weekend DeBerry and his parents made the trip from Richmond to Lexington to visit Kentucky for the first time. They left just after midnight early Saturday morning and arrived around the time for breakfast after a lengthy drive.

"Once we got up there we watched practice and met some of the coaches," he said. "We met coach (Mark) Stoops and talked to coach Ansley. We toured the facility. Overall it was pretty good."

DeBerry didn't have an offer from Kentucky going into the trip but he did before he left.

"Coach Stoops said he really liked my size and they'll be recruiting me hard. He wanted me to get up there for the spring game and for a camp," he said. "I plan on going back. I don't know when yet, though. I know the spring game there is April 13 but I'll be doing a Rivals challenge that day."

DeBerry said his relationship with Ansley is one reason for his interest in the Wildcats.

"Coach Ansley and I have a great relationship," he said. "We had a good relationship when he was at Tennessee. He's a straight up guy who tells you like it is. You can talk to him about anything. We've got a great relationship."

The tempo and format of the practice is something else that stood out to DeBerry.

"Oh yeah, there's was no wasted time. Everything was so quick and so fast. Everything was here and then there. It was very high paced. They never really took any breaks," he explained. "It was great being able to actually see them practice. I hadn't gotten to see others practice besides UVa, so seeing them practice was a good thing to see. I liked how the coaches and players reacted to one another."

Clemson, Iowa, North Carolina, Penn State, Purdue, Tennessee, UVa and Virginia Tech are among the other schools that have offered DeBerry.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1488956