[LeeCoUKFan]

Cats pursuing Tennessee athlete McQuarters

Justin Rowland
Special to CatsIllustrated.com

Most of Kentucky's recruiting efforts in this current class are focused on the Wildcats' home state, Ohio and several states in the South. Tennessee is one state that has not been a major priority.

That doesn't mean the Wildcats are bypassing the Volunteer State. On the contrary, an offer just went out about two weeks ago in Tennessee.

Kentucky is one of the latest schools to get involved with Dejuan McQuarters, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound athlete from Memphis (Tenn.) Mitchell. McQuarters told Cats Illustrated he has "about ten" offers altogether, with schools like Air Force, Memphis, Middle Tennessee and UAB as some of the other schools on that list.

Chad Scott is the coach he has talked to from UK. Scott was in Memphis earlier in the spring evaluation period.

"He's a down to earth coach," McQuarters said. "I love him. He's a cool coach. Basically they like me as an athlete so I could play wide out and return [kicks]. He told me they love my film and they called my coach and let them know they were going to offer."

McQuarters does not have a scheduled visit to UK yet but he did say he plans to take a trip to Lexington sometime this summer.

While the SEC is a big selling point for UK with many recruits McQuarters said that will not be a decisive factor in his decision. That said, his current list of leaders might imply that he's likely to end up in the Southeastern Conference anyways.

"My favorites would be Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Mississippi State," he said.

McQuarters has visited Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas State and Memphis so far. Both of the Mississippi schools impressed him, with the Rebels really blowing him away.

"I loved the (Ole Miss) campus. It's a great atmosphere. I went to the spring game and it was sold out," he said. "Mississippi State was cool. I like it. I've got a good relationship with the coaches."

Last fall as a junior McQuarters caught 42 passes for 850 yards and seven touchdowns. He had a punt return for a touchdown on special teams and on defense he picked off two passes and had 15 pass breakups.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1507437