Kentucky athletes highlight 2015 football recruiting class

Hilltoppers+head+coach+Jeff+Brohm+argues+a+call+during+Fridays+game+in+Huntington%2C+West+Virginia.%C2%A0Nick+Wagner%2FHERALD

Hilltoppers head coach Jeff Brohm argues a call during Friday’s game in Huntington, West Virginia. Nick Wagner/HERALD

Jonah Phillips
February 5, 2015

Head Coach Jeff Brohm announced the 2015 recruiting class on Wednesday, adding 15 students to the total of 21 new student-athletes joining the Hilltoppers for next season. Nine signees from the state of Kentucky highlighted the signing day.

“We continue to recruit the state of Kentucky very hard,” Brohm said. “I believe we signed nine guys from the state this year, so that makes it 19 over the past two years. We believe in recruiting the very best players in the state of Kentucky—it’s important to us and we spend a lot of time doing that.”

The Tops brought 14 freshmen and one junior-college transfer to the program Wednesday, joining two early-enrollee freshmen, two transfers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a junior college transfer already enrolled and a grayshirt enrollee.

With Kentucky claiming nine of the 21 new players, Florida and Georgia are the next states with the most signees—both with four. Two join the Hilltoppers from Tennessee, and one comes from both Mississippi and Alabama.

According to Rivals, WKU landed just one three star recruit on the day: LaVergne, Tennessee wide receiver Quin Jernighan.

“That’s what everyone looks at,” Brohm said of the stars system. “We don’t look at that. We’re going to recruit the best players we can. Stars are a system that the public looks at it, and it has a lot to do with what schools and conferences people are looking at. We understand that—We want to get the best players that we can that fit our program.”

The Hilltoppers recruiting class was ranked 106 out of 129 ranked Division I programs, and eighth out of the 12 Conference USA teams according to Rivals.com. The rankings get slightly better according to Scout.com—ranking 84 nationally and fourth in the conference. Despite these rankings, Brohm is confident in the group he has brought in.

Of the total singing class, six join the defensive line, five to the offensive line (one grayshirt signee), four to the receiving core, three defensive backs, two linebackers and a running back.

When looking at who from the list of signatures could come in and make an immediate impact, Brohm believes UAB transfer Jontavious Morris and JUCO products Omarius Bryant and Sidney Hammond could contribute immediately due to their physical maturity and experience at the college level.

“We feel like we have a very successful group of young men that we feel good about, that we’re very comfortable with, and guys we know very well,” Brohm said. “I think this recruiting class fills a lot of needs on our team and will help us become a better football team immediately.”

Even with signing day all wrapped up, Brohm has left the program in the position to “make moves,” leaving two scholarship slots purposefully open in the event of an opportunity presenting itself.

“We do have a few slots that we have left open on purpose so that if anything between now and the end of the spring semester break opens, we are able to make moves,” Brohm said. “That was important to us as well, we definitely did that on purpose.”

2015 WKU signing class by position:

Defensive Line

– Sidney Hammond—6-3, 260 lbs. (Kennesaw, Georgia)

– Jontavious Morris—6-2, 295 lbs. (Albany, Georgia)

– Ty’Ron Horton—6-3, 255 lbs. (Louisville)

– Heath Wiggins—6-2, 260 lbs. (Mayfield)

– Nick Coffey—6-4, 240 lbs. (Dunnville)

– Omarius Bryant—6-3, 300 lbs. (Hazelhurts, Mississippi)

Offensive Line

– Cullen Reynolds—6-5, 310 lbs. (Madisonville)