I just finished watching Morgan Newton on ESPN, and I came away extremely impressed by the kid. Here are some bullet points.

*The knock on mobile quarterbacks is that they sometimes get impatient when the pass protection begins to break down, resulting in scrambles for minimal gains. I didn’t see that out of Newton today. I don’t follow Indiana high school football, so I have no idea how good Cathedral was supposed to be, but they had a hard time stopping Newton when it mattered. More often than not, Newton was able to make the throws under pressure, though he did defer a lot to his backfield.

*Having said all that, as complimentary as I am of his pocket presence, I am just as complimentary of his mobility. Tom Luginbill said on commentary that he was a lot like a mobile Andre Woodson. I don’t think Morgan throws as pretty a ball as Andre, so I’ll try another comparison. How about “Shane Boyd if he had any passing ability?” Shane was a super athlete, but he always aimed passes at his receivers’ feet. Newton doesn’t appear to have blazing speed like Nebraska’s old option QBs, but he clearly has some speed, and his elusiveness is also very good. He broke several tackles on a couple of runs. Again, I don’t know about the defensive prowess of Cathedral, but they wore the same uniforms as Notre Dame and were the Fighting Irish, so that doesn’t reflect well on them. Still, in regards to his mobility, his powerful style of running reminded me a little of *gasp* Tim Tebow. And yes, I just compared a black athlete to a white athlete. That’s groundbreaking writing, folks.

*I was also impressed with the interviews he and his father did. They reminded me a lot of watching Patrick Patterson and his family. Dr. Newton wants to involve himself in his son’s career in the same way that Buster Patterson does, which is a good way (i.e. not like Alex Legion’s mother). Both of them are all class, especially Dr. Newton, whose entire interview was basically one giant recruiting pitch for Kentucky. Morgan Newton showed a lot of poise and brought up a good point – Cathedral actually led at the half, and Carmel wasn’t used to being behind in games at all. Newton calmly directed the Carmel offense on the last two scoring drives, making it look easy. Newton made it sound like it was the first “adversity” that Carmel had faced in a while, and he handled it with the poise of a veteran.

*My favorite thing about the entire game was all the publicity that Kentucky got. I don’t remember if ESPN covered a high school game in Leslie County or Harrodsburg when Kentucky signed its last HUGE signees, Tim Couch and Dennis Johnson. The announcers were just gushing about the Kentucky coaches today and about the success that Rich Brooks and Joker Phillips have brought to the program over the last three years. It was like watching a three-hour promotional video for UK football.

Nothing bad can come of this.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, hoping the momentum train still has a lot of life left in it.

Kentucky just picked up it’s second program-changing caliber quarterback for the class of 2009 by way of Morgan Newton. The athletic pro-style signal caller out of Carmel HS in Carmel, Indiana narrowed his choices down to UK (his Dad’s favorite), Clemson (mom’s), and Florida (always a sexy pick). In the end, UK was the way to go for the 6-4, 215 pound phenom as the coaching staff, style of play and proximity to home were cited as the decision-makers.

Newton is painfully underrated by Rivals.com as a three-star prospect, despite reporting offers from Florida, Miami, Clemson, Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, South Carolina, and Kentucky. Scout.com has it a little more accurate as he’s listed with 5 stars. At least a 4-rating is deserved for throwing for 1882 yards and 25 TD’s while rushing for 753 yards and 11 TD’s.

However, the recruiting battle does NOT end here for these two QB’s (Ryan Mossakowski being the other). Coach Brooks and Co. now have to find a way to explain to each how both will see the field. The two have similar body builds, strong arms, and an ability to scramble. Keeping Mossakowski from entertaining other schools may be an impossible task, but should a sufficient plan for both to achieve success under the same roof be found, Kentucky is suddenly looking at a class that could put them on a new map. It’s long been understood to be a “big-time football school” thing to do in signing multiple high caliber QB’s in one class. Kentucky continues to take bigger and bigger steps in the right direction.

Well, another day, another outstanding recruit for Rich Brooks and Joker Phillips. Sam Simpson, the *** center from Henry Clay HS in Lexington, has apparently just now committed to Kentucky as of the time I began writing this column (2:13 PM). For those of you who look at stars and nothing else when judging the talent of recruits, keep in mind that Simpson is ranked at #9 among all centers in his class by Rivals, despite the *** rating.

This is a huge pickup for Kentucky, just like most of the pickups the Cats have received this summer. Kentucky is beating out good programs for these kids. In the case of Simpson, the top contender to foil the plans of Brooks and Phillips was Virginia, a middle of the road program in the ACC, but one that has experienced more consistent success than Kentucky (although not recently). Other schools on Simpson’s list included Alabama, Auburn, Cincinnati, NC State, Stanford, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. There apparently is a pretty strong UVA contingent in Kentucky, but it wasn’t enough to sway Simpson.

Do you want to know another reason why this is such a good get for UK? Did you see Louisville on his list? Kentucky is starting to win back the momentum with the in-state recruits. Louisville started their run with homegrown kids, then they branched out with a more national recruiting philosophy. Kentucky puts out some good HS players every year, but it is not Florida, Georgia, Ohio or Texas (home of future Wildcat Ryan Mossakowski). It is important that the schools in the home state locks up as many of these kids as possible, and this is exactly what Brooks and Phillips are doing.

I feel that the reason why Kentucky is getting so many good players as of late is the continuity with the staff. I love Rich Brooks, and if you don’t, then you’re no friend of mine. But he is getting older, and instead of trying to make the big hire (like everybody wanted after Guy “Bear” Morriss went to Baylor), the staff is keeping it in the family by naming Phillips as Brooks’ successor. I love this because it assures potential recruits that the guy who is primarily responsible for recruiting them is going to stick around. I already know that he’s got a great mind for coaching, based on the quality of the Kentucky offense under Phillips compared to when Ron Hudson was offensive coordinator. Joker took the same group of guys who couldn’t get past the 50 against Indiana and turned them into a high-powered machine. Plus, Randy Sanders will probably be named OC once Brooks retires and Joker makes the leap. As we’ve watched Tennessee over the years, we’ve quickly found out that Sanders wasn’t the reason for the Volunteers’ offensive woes (if you have a QB named Clausen, you’re hip deep in poop). Still, I’m glad we have Sanders and UT doesn’t.

I realize that much of this doesn’t have anything to do with Sam Simpson, but that’s because I have a much harder time evaluating football recruits than basketball recruits. All football recruits look good, especially offensive linemen. I like Simpson because he passes the common sense test. A local kid that is top 10 in the country at his position has to be a slam dunk. How could it not be a good pickup?

Finally, since this is my first ever football post on this network, I think I should tell you guys that I spend a lot of time on message boards, and when people say they have sources, it’s always questionable, but I couldn’t help myself on this one. If it’s all a bunch of crap, I apologize in advance, but I heard from somebody with Indiana connections that says UK is going to land QB Morgan Newton. I won’t go into detail anymore because I question the validity of the source, but it got me too excited to ignore it. Feel free to leave comments if you want to know a little more.

I’m Seth Stogsdill, and I could get used to this football thing.

It’s not everyday that a tall, strong-arm big QB prospect lands at Kentucky. Especially an out of state one. But hey, hey, looky here… It’s Ryan Mossakowski, all dressed up in blue. Thank you sir.

This class was already shaping up to be solid, maybe even good, with tons of three-star prospects in-state and around the South lining up to play for the Wildcats. Now comes the current cream of the crop.. the 4-star strong arm Texas quarterback.

Oh and for all you detractors, he turned down Alabama and Texas A&M to come play at Kentucky. Oh and Kentucky made the cut over Auburn, Clemson, Oregon and Nebraska too. Eat on that Louisville.

Mossakowski easily becomes the quarterback of the future. No, I’m not throwing Mike Hartline (or Fidler) to the side yet, but Mossakowski can throw. Randall Cobb can focus on being an all-purpose back, whether it’s wide receiver, running back, return man and slowly move away from quarterback.

The tall Texan becomes the highlight of this class, a leader among good players. The only worry is the effect this verbal has on fellow QB Morgan Newton of Carmel, Ind. Newton is a Scout.com 5 star and an ESPNU 150 recruit. A dual-threat QB, Newton would be a good challenge for Mossakowski and would solidify the national attention this recruiting class is set to receive with the Mossakowski verbal.

Big props to Randy Sanders and the rest of the coaching staff

And the biggest impact of all is a long-lasting one. Kentucky has arrived ladies and gentlemen, celebrate accordingly.

News coming out of Lexington media outlets says that the Wildcats have secured a stud quarterback for the class of 2009. Ryan Mossakowski, a 6-4, 203 pound quarterback from Texas, notified coaches at Kentucky that he would be verbally committing to the Cats for 2009. Mossakowski is a 4-star prospect as rated by scout.com. He recently narrowed his list of schools to Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky and Texas A&M before ultimately choosing the Cats. From the start he was looking those four plus Louisville, Tennessee, Nebraska, Colorado, and Oregon.

As a high school junior, Mossakowski threw for 3,029 yards and 19 touchdowns last year. He completed 57 percent of his passes with 13 interceptions. He also ran for seven touchdowns. He is 567-for-984 passing for 6,088 yards and 36 touchdowns on his career. He has rushed for 539 yards and 18 touchdowns. Although he has a great arm, colleges were more impressed with his footwork, speed and agility.

Although he still has a year before he arrives in Lexington, the buzz is already starting. The Cats have finally gotten that big time QB recruit, no offense to the current core, but it safe to say we will not be struggling to name a solid, experienced starting quarterback next preseason. Hartline will have a season under his belt and now Mossakowski will be ready to compete for the position when he arrives. Oh, and by the way, whose pumped that we had a recruit chose Lexington over Bama, Auburn and A&M? We have arrived!!

It’s no secret that Rich Brooks and Co. have been working the recruiting trail hard recently, grabbing a slew of three star recruits and in-state talent before fall practice even starts. Pretty good considering the rest of the SEC has decided to come out firing as well.

And now, UK has another kid from the city of Louisville on the verge of committing to the Wildcats.

Jordan Tennyson is a defensive end from Louisville Central high school, last year’s state 3A football champs. While most people hear Central and think of UK commit Mister Cobble and target Ridge Wilson, Tennyson is a fellow senior teammate flying under the radar.

I talked with Tennyson today before practice where he told me that he was going to UK. He said the coaching staff in Lexington is a little leery of his weight, because he looks small for a SEC defensive end. But Tennyson said the staff told him that if he has a good first set of games this season, he can expect an offer by the third or fourth game. Once UK offers, he won’t hesitate to commit on the spot.

Tennyson would be the fourth defensive lineman from Central to UK. Corey Peters looks to contribute heavily at DT, while walk-on Joe Scott (DT) is also a Central alum. Cobble (DT) is already committed and confirmed that he will not waver in his commitment.

Central head coach Ty Scroggins said that a lot of the Central to UK pipeline had to do with Joker Phillips, who constantly makes Central a recruiting stop.

As for three-star linebacker Ridge Wilson, Louisville has dropped from the leaderboard, but he’s now added Auburn and Oklahoma. He maintained that UK was still a strong option, but he will wait until taking all of his official visits before making a decision. Ridge also added that it is his great relationship with Phillips that is playing a big part in his recruiting process.

We all remember the best thing about Billy Gillispie. No, no, not that he’ll win games, but that he recruits like none other! Yes, we all know that now and we worship it (well, most of us anyway).
Little did we know that recently there was a Billy Gillispie impression contest. All UK coaches were entered and early polling results seem to have found a tie for the leader.

Yes, Rich Brooks and Joker Phillips are leading early results. Rumor has it that they may form a joint ticket with Brooks eventually handing over the reigns to Joker at a later date.

All joking aside, have you seen the football recruiting recently? Putting a little pressure on Gillispie, boys? I mean, seven recruits in 10 days? You’re definitely working harder than the Ol Ball Coach, who decided to NOT be on campus for a recent visit. Then the kid decided to commit to UK. Amazing. Here’s the list of commits so far:

Brian Adams, Cumming (Ga.) South Forsyth, Athlete, 6-4, 210
Jordan Aumiller, Boyle County, Athlete, 6-4, 199
Mister Cobble, Central, DT, 6-0, 280
Jerrell Green, Paul Dunbar, RB, 6-2, 210
LaRod King, North Hardin, WR, 6-6, 190
Kevin Mitchell, Douglasville (Ga.) Alexander, OL, 6-7, 280
Jarvis Walker, Metairie (La.) Rummel, DB, 6-2, 202
Myron Walker, Metairie (La.) Rummel, DT, 6-0, 280
Larry Warford, Madison Central, OL, 6-4, 350
Justin Jones, Conyers (Ga.) Heritage, TE, 6-7, 240

The 2009 class is shaping up well. Two athletes, a handful of three stars and locking down some good in-state talent. Carmel, Ind. Quarterback Morgan Newton loves the Cats (just commit already, please?) and has publicly said that whatever school he commits to, he’s working his home state for pals to bring with him.

I know people around the SEC aren’t giving the Cats much hope this year. But how can you not see a turnover in progress when UK is no longer struggling for 3-star players, but stockpiling them early? How can you think Louisville is going to be better when they are being shunned by a majority of in-state recruits? Junior-college transfers are like cheap band-aids–they almost always fall off before getting the job done.

Now I know a bunch of 3-stars is nothing to brag about when half of the top 10 recruiting classes year in and year out are SEC schools. But the progress being made is huge considering the program’s recent past. This type of recruiting will separate Kentucky from the cellar with Vanderbilt. Will give them a yearly edge over Mississippi State, Ole Miss and at least Arkansas for this year. It will have them contending with South Carolina and Tennessee.

And you know what the best part is? This class is only just shaping up. Big props to Joker Phillips and Rich Brooks. They are proving out on the recruiting trail that UK is not a two-year wonder.