[LeeCoUKFan]

Edwards talks in depth about Kentucky commitment

Justin Rowland
CatsIllustrated.com Football Recruiting Analyst

It seems like just yesterday Mike Edwards was going back and forth over when he wanted to go public with his commitment to Kentucky.

It's tough to believe that was more than two months ago.

The Cincinnati Winton Woods safety knew for a while that Kentucky is where he wanted to end up. But it wasn't always that way.

"I didn't start looking at Kentucky until the new staff came in," Edwards said. "Actually I wasn't thinking about Kentucky at all. I would talk to Jaleel (Hytchye) and see him all the time. He was telling me why he committed to Kentucky. I was like, 'Why would you go there?' He would explain it to me and I still didn't see the reason. Earlier I could see myself at Ohio State or something like that. My favorite team was Boise State and then LSU. I thought I would play some place like that."

Then Edwards visited Kentucky for the first time and things changed.

"I was like, man, I see why he's going there now," he said.

And the coaches were a big reason. Vince Marrow was key in Edwards' decision and the program's positive momentum that had been building also weighed on him heavily.

It became fairly obvious to most that Kentucky was the school to beat. Edwards acknowledges his mind was made up.

"At one time when everybody thought that my parents and coaches had stopped me from committing I already knew I was going to Kentucky. I just thought I had to wait and take some other visits," Edwards said. "I really wanted to wait 'til me and Darius (West) could do it at a press conference. But when we went on that visit and (the coaches) talked to us it was like, why wait?"

So he didn't wait and the proverbial cat got out of the bag.

But why did Edwards wait so long in the first place?

"I was just wanting to see how many DB's they were taking," he said. "I wanted to see who they're recruiting. I didn't want to go to a school that was recruiting a lot of DB's. I was just looking at that. I was talking to coach Marrow and coach (Derrick) Ansley and all them and they told me they only need me and Darius to commit. Then basically they would be done with DB's. They just wanted us."

Since committing to Kentucky some schools have recruited Edwards even harder than they did before his pledge went public. Don't expect that to matter. Edwards classified himself as "100-percent solid" to UK.

He visited Kentucky for their Friday Night Blue Lights camp last month and spent time with Drew Barker, Denzel Ware, West and others.

One reason Edwards said it's tough to imagine anyone backing out of their pledge is how close the class has become.

"It's great because you don't see each other a lot except when we're up there but when we do see each other it's all good," he said. "We've got that bond together. We all get along good. A lot of us Ohio players do see each other sometimes but when we all come together it's great."

Those bonds will come in handy if the Wildcats struggle on the field this fall. Many have wondered how many commitments might waver if things go south.

The coaching staff is covering all their bases.

"I've been thinking about that," Edwards said. "I knew they would probably struggle this year and maybe not do as good. I know that our class coming in will do much better and then after that we'll be really good.

"That's what we were talking to coach (Mark) Stoops about when our parents came down. He was just saying it will get better and better. When our class comes in, after that everything should be great."

The 5-foot-11, 182-pound safety is evidence that Kentucky's presence in the Buckeye State has increased in a big way. And he hopes to help them to do even better in Ohio in the future.

George Brown figures to be one of the state's top 2015 prospects and the two are cousins.

"I'm just telling him that we really want him and need him," Edwards said. "Stuff like that. He always talks about other schools but I'm really trying to get him to come here. I want to take a couple of visits (to Kentucky) with him.

"Then one of my teammates, David Long, is a linebacker and (the UK coaches) really like him. He might try and come down sometime," he concluded.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1537003