Brooks’ southern pipeline raises recruiting bar

A quick look at UK football head coach Rich Brooks’ 2009 recruiting class would provide much joy for many UK fans, with high-profile out-of-state recruits and in-state stars lining up to play for the Cats next fall.

A closer look would ease fears about potential depth problems at many different positions in 2009 — running back, quarterback, defensive line and linebacker.

You can call this latest recruiting class more progress for Brooks and Co., yet UK still only pulled in a class talented enough to be considered the 11th best in the Southeastern Conference. Four SEC teams — Louisiana State, Alabama, Florida and Georgia — littered the top 10 nationally for best recruiting classes. No surprise there, as those teams usually hover at that high level of recruiting prowess anyway.

In fact, the SEC’s 11th-best recruiting class is pretty good, to hear it from someone who evaluates this type of stuff for a living.

“Eleventh in the SEC is tops in just about any other conference,” said Barton Simmons, an SEC football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com.

But in order to get the real reason why Brooks’ most decorated class to date at UK is so special, you need to pull out a map. Get your thumbtacks ready and have your printed list of UK football signees nearby.

Of the 28 signees, six are from the talent-rich state of Georgia. What was once a one-school pipeline at LaGrange High School in LaGrange, Ga., has turned into the mining of a southern state.

Three Texas players are joining the Cats, including quarterback Ryan Mossakowski, which the Cats stole from many high-octane programs, not lower-tier schools.

The dip into places like Texas, California (the Cats pulled two four-star junior college players from Los Angeles), and the Deep South, along with pipelines in Georgia, are essential to continued success for the Cats.

“It’s really important to recruit in Texas,” Simmons said. “Getting players other schools are wanting is important. It’s important that they continue to get in there and maintain those relationships down there.”

Brooks is all about good relationships, and that philosophy is the real reason UK has turned it around in football. The relationships between Brooks and his players, his fellow coaches, his recruits and the fan base have led to three straight winning seasons and three straight bowl wins.

This recent recruiting class will help make that fourth, fifth and sixth straight winning season a very possible outcome. Bowl wins may not come as easy, because the Cats can tell lesser SEC bowls goodbye if they continue to pull in classes like this year’s.

It’s a luxury when a coach can recruit for specific needs and not just for straight talent. It’s even better when that same coach isn’t putting in excessive overtime to nab that same talent. At this point, Brooks isn’t putting in that overtime or becoming desperate for talent.

It was another year with UK at the bottom of the SEC recruiting rankings, another year outside of the top 25 recruiting classes. But take a look at your map and notice where all the thumbtacks are — football recruiting hotbeds.

It wasn’t just another year.

Kenny Colston is a journalism junior. E-mail kcolston@kykernel.com.