Momentum from UK’s win over Tennessee carried over on Wednesday when UK head coach Joker Phillips and his staff wrapped up recruiting on the 2012 class.

“This is a strong recruiting class and the class got even stronger in the last 48 hours when a couple of kids decided to join us,” Phillips said.

The most notable of those players to join the 2012 recruiting class within the last 48-hours were linebacker Khalid Henderson and running back Justin Taylor.

Taylor, a three-star running back from Atlanta, GA, backed out of his commitment to Alabama and signed with the Cats on Wednesday morning.

Although Khalid Henderson isn’t one of Joker Phillips’ biggest recruits, he is one of the more highly touted recruits, coming in as a three-star according to Rivals.com. The 6-foot, 213-pound linebacker from Mableton, GA was a one-time Tennessee Volunteer and also chose the Cats on Wednesday over Ole Miss.

“Coach Minter had a chance to go down and visit with him and really like the look he has in his eyes,” Phillips said about Henderson.

“He liked him physically, and I say physically because you better like them physically first. It’s just like when I met my wife. If I saw her from a distance, I better like what I saw first before I’m able to talk to her.”

Phillips also noted that Henderson, like many of the recruits, fit the profile that he wanted at UK. A player that he recruits must be “high character, it has to be a guy that wants to get a good degree and be successful, and loves the game of football.”

The Cats highest rated recruit has been on board for quite some time. Four-star quarterback Patrick Towles committed during his spring break in 2011, Phillips said.

The 6-foot-5, 242 pound quarterback from Highlands High School is a “proven winner,” said Rivals Southeast Recruiting Analyst Keith Niebuhr.

Pointing to Patrick Towles’ banner on the wall, Joker Phillips said, “The first one (Letter of Intent) to come in was this guy up here.”

“You better have a guy that’s going to pull the trigger, be the leader, be the face of your program.”

Phillips later said that Towles would have an opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback position.

During an interview with Keith Niebuhr of Rivals.com, he stated that there were two players in the 2012 class whom he thought could make an impact although recruiting services hadn’t ranked very high were three-star defensive back Fred Tiller and three-star wide receiver DeMarcus Sweat.

“Fred Tiller is an outstanding player,” Niebuhr said.

“There’s probably going to be a transitional period because he played at a really small school in south Georgia, but he’s a sensational athlete.”

When asked who could make an instant impact, Niebuhr said that DeMarcus Sweat is someone that isn’t getting talked about a lot.

“He’s got a big body and he’s very fast,” Niebuhr said. “He has a fantastic frame. I mean one of the best frames of any receiver commit in the SEC.”

Coming off a season in which fans witnessed 11 freshman take the field, the future for this class could have a higher ceiling in Phillips’ opinion.

“It might be better than the class we put together last year,” Phillips said.

While Phillips may think it is a better class, the recruiting services don’t seem to agree.

Rivals.com ranked the class last in the SEC and unranked in their top 50. Scout.com on the other hand had the Cats at 31 overall.

“We don’t worry about the stars that any of you guys might put on them, or the stars that somebody else might put on them. I really value the evaluation in the back of that room (Assistant Coaches),” Phillips said.

Niebuhr echoed Phillips’ beliefs.

“It’s a little misleading.” Niebuhr said. “You get bogged down with numbers. In the SEC, where everyone recruits so well, it’s hard to give a class like this attention.”