Massillon Tigers receiver Ardell Banks verbally commits to University of Kentucky football

MASSILLON — Massillon's wide receiver Ardell Banks has been a busy guy since his high school football season ended. After receiving multiple offers from Power Five schools, Banks chose to commit to the University of Kentucky on Monday.

Banks made some campus visits recently. Vince Marrow, Kentucky's associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, came by to see Banks after his visit to Syracuse last weekend.

"It came down to these five schools: Pitt, Cincinnati, Arizona State, Wisconsin and Syracuse. After evaluating these five schools, it comes down to The University of Kentucky," Banks wrote in his Twitter post.

Banks was Massillon's go-to receiver this past season, leading the Tigers with 791 receiving yards and 12 touchdown catches in 13 games.

In his junior year, he recorded 475 yards and led the team with seven TD receptions.

Prior to his senior season, Banks gathered some offers from the Mid-American Conference and committed to Toledo (which won the league title game last weekend) in April before reopening his recruiting prior to the season.

In November, Kentucky became the first Power Five team to offer Banks. Then schools such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Arizona State followed after. Banks made his first visit to Lexington two weeks after his offer.

The Kentucky football program has been active across Northeast Ohio.

Kentucky offered Hoban star running back Lamar Sperling last week, not long after he was named Ohio Mr. Football. Kentucky also offered McKinley sophomore Dante McClellan recently.

More:Canton Central Catholic's Jack Talkington, Alex Anderson earn All-Ohio football honors

Massillon's Willtrell Hartson lands offer from UAB

Massillon record-setting running back Willrell Hartson has been patiently waiting for recruiting to pick up speed and his patience is starting to pay off. On Monday morning, Hartson received an offer from UAB.

This is Hartson's first offer since last July when Southern Illinois offered the senior. Prior to that, Hartson had received offers from Marshall, Georgia Southern, Army, Buffalo, Toledo, and Illinois State, Central Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Temple and Boston College. Hartson also has visited Tennessee, Ohio State and Liberty.

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Hartson is the first player in Massillon program history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. He 2,073 yards this past season boke the school's single-season rushing record. His 34 total touchdowns this year tied a Massillon record set 100 years ago by Edwin Hill, while his 208 points this season broke Hill's record of 204 from a century ago. Hartson also owns the single-game rushing record, which he broke his sophomore year.

The Tiger finished the 2022 season at 12-2 after losing to Hoban in the Division II state semifinals. The early NCAA national signing period is Dec. 21-23.

Ohio High School Football:See who earned All-Ohio football honors in Division VI, VII from the OPSWA in 2022

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Massillon football's Ardell Banks commits to Kentucky Wildcats