[LeeCoUKFan]

Edwards another in string of UK Ohio targets

Justin Rowland
Special to CatsIllustrated.com

The Wildcats' junior day probably gave everyone a pretty good idea of what areas they plan to recruit especially hard: Kentucky, Florida and Ohio.

Ohio may prove to be the most important recruiting ground of all for Kentucky.

Over the weekend UK offered Mike Edwards, a top junior safety from the Buckeye State. The Cincinnati (Ohio) Winton Woods prospect is friends with recent UK signee Jaleel Hytchye and he attended Kentucky's junior day last Saturday.

"The offensive line coach (John Schlarman) came up to me and brought me into coach (Mark) Stoops' office," Edwards recalled. "I was talking to coach Stoops and he said he really liked me. He said he's a defensive coach and he knows a good DB when he sees one. He said I'm one of them and he said they were offering me."

Excited doesn't even begin to describe Edwards' reaction to that development.

"I loved Kentucky," he said. "I really liked the fans. The fans are great. The coaches treated me like family. I really liked that visit because they treat you like one of their own. They showed us around everywhere and we got to do a lot of things around their facilities."

There could be a friendly disagreement on the staff about who would get Edwards. According to the 6-foot, 178-prospect, Derrick Ansley likes him as a cornerback but Bradley Dale Peveto likes him as a safety.

Needless to say UK would be happy with Edwards at either position and their first goal is getting him on campus for good.

Edwards spent most of his time with fellow Ohio recruits like Derek Kief, Mikel Horton, Dorian Hendrix, George Brown and Tyrell Gilbert, an athlete from Cincinnati (Ohio) Princeton.

While Edwards clearly has a lot of interest in Kentucky he said it would be incorrect to assume he has a favorite.

"UK is one of my tops. I really like them but I don't have any favorites yet," he said.

Last fall Edwards tallied picked off five passes, forced two fumbles and recovered two fumbles.

Indiana, Illinois and several MAC schools have also offered.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1472092