Mark Stoops and his staff not only recruit well but they develop talent as well as any staff in the country according to ESPN/SEC Network anchor Peter Burns. (Vicky Graff Photo)
As ESPN/SEC Network studio anchor Peter Burns started going through a list of schools in his mind that he thought were the best college football jobs today, he kept thinking, “Why not Kentucky?” He had Alabama No. 1 followed by Clemson, Georgia, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma but listed Kentucky in the honorable mention list on Twitter along with LSU, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Oregon even though he later acknowledged he should have included Notre Dame.
But Kentucky?
“Everything think about Kentucky is there. Great facilities, great city, AD (athletics director) that gets it, fan base that is smart and understands expectations, putting guys in the NFL, fun to watch,” Burns said when I called him.
Considering that UK fans, especially football fans, sometimes get upset with AD Mitch Barnhart, I wondered how high Barnhart ranked on Burns’ list of reasons for being so high on UK football. He said it would be No. 1 or 2.
“Think about how many good jobs like Texas, Southern Cal, Nebraska there are but the coaches are not on the same page with the AD. Then you have to have an AD secure enough that if the coach does not have a great start that he will trust the plan and give the coach a leash to build that plan,” Burns said. “More importantly, you need an AD confident enough to know that he has the right guy and willing to give him time to build the program like Mitch has.”
Putting players in the NFL — something UK is now doing — ranks high, too. Burns is convinced that is why quarterback Will Levis picked UK when he left Penn State and Wan’Dale Robinson chose the Cats after leaving Nebraska.
“That is a monster thing. Across the country, not just the SEC, the first thing schools do is showcase how many players they have in the NFL and now they are doing the same thing at Kentucky,” Burns said. “When Stoops was at the draft this year you could tell how proud he was of what they are building.
“There are just so many guys now from Kentucky in the NFL. Recruits feel like they can come to Kentucky and make it to the NFL, win games, and play for a coach and staff that develops me. A lot of coaches stockpile recruits but do not develop them. I do not know if there is a coach better at developing talent than Mark. I think players also like that he has a chip on his shoulder and his teams play that way.”
