When Mark Stoops first arrived at Kentucky, he vowed to recruit the best players in the country and recruit against the best teams in college football.
A year later, he signed what would be his first full recruiting class in 2014. It didn’t matter that the Wildcats went 2-10 the year before or that the program’s facilities were second-rate compared to other schools in the SEC. Stoops still landed a top-20 class that included six ESPN 300 recruits.
Since then, Kentucky has upgraded its facilities. But back-to-back 5-7 seasons in 2014-15 hurt the Wildcats on the recruiting trail.