Early test of Jeff Brohm’s effect on UK-U of L recruiting battles could come this week

Gone is the time where the first Wednesday in February was considered an unofficial holiday for college football fans.

While this week still marks the start of the traditional signing period for top high school football players, most of the heavy lifting for the 2023 recruiting class was completed in December’s early signing period. Kentucky signed 18 high school seniors in December and might not sign any additional recruits this week.

However, the final decision of one of the few remaining uncommitted high school prospects Mark Stoops and his staff are known to be pursuing could send a message about the next phase of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry.

Three-star lineman William “Woo” Spencer, a Louisville native who played his senior season of high school football across the Ohio River in New Albany, Indiana, will announce his decision Wednesday. His finalists are Kentucky, Louisville and Michigan State.

Kentucky’s interest in Spencer seemed to fluctuate throughout the 2023 recruiting cycle, but the Wildcats hosted him for an official visit this month and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow made sure fans knew he was in the Louisville area the day he conducted an in-home visit with Spencer on Jan. 17 with a tweet that read, “Love recruiting in our backyard. Locked it down.”

Spencer took his final official visit to Louisville over the weekend and appears to be a top priority heading into the February signing period for new Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm.

Recruiting battles between the two in-state rivals for the best talent from the city of Louisville are nothing new, but the dynamic has changed with Brohm taking over the Cardinals’ program.

Kentucky has dominated the head-to-head battles for top prospects in the city in recent years with Bobby Petrino and then Scott Satterfield as coach. Since the 2019 class, UK has signed nine players from Louisville, including five-star offensive lineman Kiyaunta Goodwin, who like Spencer spent the end of his high school career in Southern Indiana.

While Petrino during his second stint at Louisville and Satterfield seemed to downplay local recruiting, Brohm, a Louisville native, U of L alumnus and former Western Kentucky coach, used his deep ties to the state to sign 11 Bluegrass State high school graduates during his Purdue tenure.

“I think there have been a lot of great football teams here at the University of Louisville that were built around a lot of great in-state players and players from this city,” Brohm said at his introductory news conference when asked if he would increase the emphasis on recruiting locally. “I have a relationship with a lot of the coaches throughout the state. Probably a lot of the coaches that are coming will as well. We’re going to make sure that we’re going to every school if we can and make sure that they get to know us and what we’re about, get to know their players and prospects. And if we feel that they can help the University of Louisville win we’re going to make sure that happens and we’re going to give them that opportunity.”

Brohm was followed to Louisville by St. Xavier defensive lineman Micah Carter and Henderson County defensive lineman Saadiq Clements, who had previously been committed to Purdue’s 2023 recruiting class. Brohm then landed commitments from Kentucky natives Devin Neal (Baylor) and Stephen Herron (Stanford) as transfers.

Kentucky’s 2023 recruiting class still has a strong local element with four in-state commitments, including Louisville native Jakob Dixon. Stoops and Marrow also landed an early victory in the head-to-head battle with Brohm and Louisville last week with a commitment from Taylor County offensive lineman Hayes Johnson, the top-ranked Kentucky high school prospect in the class of 2024.

Johnson’s commitment represented some important momentum for Kentucky. The Taylor County lineman trains at Aspirations Fitness Institution in Louisville. That’s the same gym that produced Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rondale Moore, who played for Brohm at Purdue, and New York Giants wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, who broke UK’s single-season records for catches and receiving yards in 2021.

Kentucky’s relationship with Aspirations was dealt a blow earlier this offseason when Goodwin, who trained there, entered the transfer portal after being limited to special teams action during his freshman season at Kentucky. Goodwin plans to transfer to Florida. Two other Louisville natives (offensive lineman John Young and wide receiver Tae Tae Crumes) left UK’s roster via the transfer portal in December after failing to break into the primary rotation after multiple years in Lexington.

Spencer, who also trains at Aspirations, is unlikely to make or break either school’s 2023 recruiting class on his own.

The recruiting services are split on whether he will play on the offensive or defensive line in college. Either way, he is likely to need time in a college strength and conditioning program before being counted on for significant snaps.

With few other recruiting battles still on the table though, Spencer’s decision will likely garner even more attention this week. It will take some time to determine if his choice is a sign of things to come in the Stoops-Brohm recruiting battles or a one-off decision, but the recruiting dynamic in the state has clearly changed already.

“It’s kind of tough because I like Jeff,” Stoops said in December. “Not that I didn’t like Coach Satterfield. I just didn’t know him very well.

“Coach Brohm, he’ll do a really good job. Great connections to the state, strong impact in Louisville. He’s a good coach and a good person. They’ll do very well. We’ll continue to battle with them and everyone else.”

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