Grant Bingham, right, runs extremely well. (Johnson Central Football Photo)
Grant Bingham’s grandfather played football at Kentucky and the Paintsville area where Bingham lives definitely is Big Blue territory. However, it was not a given that the 6-6, 305-pound Johnson Central offensive lineman, a four-star prospect, would pick Kentucky.
He had a lot of national offers and at one time many felt he was most enamored with Notre Dame.
The death of UK offensive line coach John Schlarman during the 2020 season also created some uncertainty about UK’s offensive line.
Just a month ago Bingham was saying he hoped to narrow his list of eight schools — Arkansas, Northwestern, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Michigan, Miami, Nebraska, and Kentucky — to a final decision during his senior season at Johnson Central. Instead, he made his announcement Thursday on Kentucky Sports Radio.
247Sports rates Bingham as the nation’s 30th offensive tackle and he is one of the top four rated players in Kentucky along with Corbin defensive back/receiver Treyveon Longmire, who committed to UK last week; Frederick Douglass receiver Dane Key; and Owensboro quarterback Gain Wimsatt.
Kentucky lost Landon Young and Drake Jackson from the 2020 offensive line and has four more players that figure to be gone out of the line after this season. That’s why landing Bingham is so big and also shows that an in-state star has the same type of confidence in new offensive line coach Eric Wolford that former players did in Schlarman.
Recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow was the main recruiter for Bingham but if there was not a solid relationship with Wolford, Bingham likely would be headed to Notre Dame.
One of the first recruiting calls Wolford made after joining the UK staff was to Bingham and he’s spent a lot of time cultivating a relationship with the Johnson Central star that paid off with a huge commitment for UK Thursday.
