[LeeCoUKFan]

Memphis prospects set to visit Kentucky Thursday

Justin Rowland
Special to CatsIllustrated.com

Kentucky's big recruiting event may be on Saturday but Thursday should be a pretty big day too. UK is set to host some of the top prospects from the talent-rich city of Memphis.

Many of Memphis' top prospects are currently on a tour of SEC schools that took them to Alabama and Auburn on Tuesday. It will take them to Georgia and Tennessee on Wednesday. Then on Wednesday night they get back in the car and head up to Lexington, so they can visit Kentucky and Vanderbilt on Thursday.

It's a whirlwind tour and each school only has a very brief time to make an impression. But it's big for UK.

As Cats Illustrated reported earlier this year the current Kentucky staff has plans to tap into the city of Memphis, one of the most important recruiting areas for SEC schools.

The prospects making the trip to UK on Wednesday and Thursday include Jamal Jones, Cornelius Sturghill, Deddrick Thomas, Johnathan Johnson, Joshua McMillon and Nikia Cathey.

Sturghill is one of the top athletes in the state of Tennessee, and of the visitors he's perhaps the one that UK has been most closely watching.

Cathey is a Mississippi State commitment and the others are Class of 2015 prospects. McMillon, who attends Whitehaven, is one of the nation's top rising junior linebackers and will attend the Rivals Challenge as one of the few underclassmen performing.

The prospects will be accompanied by Bryan Williams, a coach from the area.

"We'll be at Kentucky on Thursday morning," Johnson said. "We're actually coming into Kentucky on (Wednesday) night. We're going to spend the night in Kentucky and we'll be on campus on Thursday."

Assistant coach Scott spent some time in Memphis during the spring evaluation period last month. It didn't appear as though UK was on the verge of making progress with any recruits, but this week's visitors could be a sign that his efforts are paying off.

"The new coaching staff said they wanted to recruit Memphis," Johnson said. "I don't think any of them have been up to Kentucky. We wanted to get these kids on campus, let them see the program, and let them meet the coaches.

"Every kid I have in the car with me are top kids in Memphis, 2014 and '15. I got in touch with coach Scott after I watched Kentucky's spring game. I saw the direction they're going with that offense. I called up there and told him we've got some kids that would fit that system perfectly."

Cats Illustrated will have more on their trip as well as plenty of coverage from the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge in the days ahead.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1512380