Cole Lanter with UK senior offensive analyst Mark Perry and receiver Wan'Dale Robinson before the UK-New Mexico State game. (Cook Lanter Photo)
Cole Later has had a sensational senior season for Boyle County, the Class 4A favorite, but the talented receiver had no expectations anything unusual would happen when he attended Kentucky’s game Saturday against New Mexico State.
He had been talking with Mark Perry, senior offensive analyst/director of high school relations for UK football, since late September and building a relationship.
“It was slow and steady, the way recruiting starts,” said Lanter.
He started getting text messages from UK recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow about the time Boyle beat Frederick Douglass 34-7 on Oct. 29. Still, he was just hoping to have a good time at the UK game when he got a call from Perry while he was on the field before the game.
It was not a long conversation, but Perry told Lanter UK would like to give him an opportunity to join the program as a preferred walk-on. He already has scholarship offers from Murray State and Eastern Kentucky along with four Division II scholarship offers.
Lanter has been a scoring machine this season with 25 touchdowns in 13 games. He has caught 67n passes for 1,111 yards and 19 scores and rushed 28 times for 227 yards and four more scores. He has two punt return touchdowns along with 25 tackles and two interceptions.
That’s a big jump from 2020 when he had 38 catches for 647 yards and nine scores and 18 rushes for 123 yards and one score. He also made 20 tackles.
Lanter’s improved numbers coincide with the offseason work he did to get bigger and faster.
“Before I had a good work ethic but I was not able to put on weight and I was not the fastest player on the field,” Lanter said.
He joined the track team to get faster. Every day he would consume 4,000 calories, lift weights in the morning, and then have speed training later in the day. He did short and long sprints ever after track season ended.
“Tough is the least I could say about it. There were nights I would go to bed with my stomach aching because I ate so much or my body aching from all the lifting and running,” he said. “But I went from 152 (pounds) before state (championship game in December 2020) to 186 (pounds) before the season started.”
Lanter was born in Lexington. His uncle, Bo Lanter, played basketball at UK. A cousin, Tod Lanter, recently was a UK basketball walk-on.
“I have always been a Wildcat,” Cole Lanter said.
He knows current UK star receiver Wan’Dale Robinson because his brother, Reed, once played on the same 7-on-7 team.
“He rode with us to Nashville for one tournament. We have played video games together. We had had a friendship over the last three or four years,” Cole Lanter said. “He is really good and has turned it on. He had a great game Saturday.”
Lanter said he is open to “pretty much anything” when it comes to where he’ll play his college football.
“I am not going to limit anything based on money. I am confident if I get a full ride (scholarship) or walk on that I can work my way up and get to the level I want to be at and compete,” Lanter said.
Boyle (12-1) will host Logan County in the Class 4A semifinals Friday. A win would put Boyle back in the title game again (the Rebels beat Franklin County last year to win the state title). Lanter is not worried about getting to the title game in hopes more college coaches might notice him.
“I am just focused on getting another (championship) ring,” he said. “I love getting attention from coaches but it is all about being focused. We can’t come out sloppy like we did last week (in a 51-14 win over Scott) because they (Logan County) can play and have a good shot at beating us.”
The Rebels found out they were not unbeatable when undefeated Lexington Christian beat Boyle 35-28.
“They are a phenomenal team and showed us we could be beaten if we did not play our best,” Lanter said. “We have come out with a vengeance since then. We don’t get another shot at them, but we have been on like a revenge tour since we lost and don’t want it to end yet.”
