Wan’Dale Robinson has message for recruits

Wan'Dale Robinson (UK Athletics Photo)

Kentucky receiver Wan’Dale Robinson sent a message to top high school football players in Kentucky when asked about the UK-Louisville rivalry.

“I can say for me, they didn’t really recruit me at all,” Robinson, UK’s leading receiver, said. “That just kind of goes to show they really don’t take pride in keeping everybody in state. For all those recruits that see this, you know where to come.”

He now has 85 catches this season which tied Craig Yeast’s 1998 total for second-most in a single season at UK. The record is 90 catches by James Whalen in 1999. Robinson also now has 1,067 receiving yards this season. Yeast is 244 yards ahead of him with 1,311 yards receiving in 1998 when Tim Couch was his quarterback.

Kentucky closes regular season play at Louisville tonight with a chance to finish 9-3 and possibly lock up a bid to the New Year’s Day Outback Bowl. After losing at home to Tennessee, Kentucky fans may want a win over Louisville even more than normal this year.

“If we’re affected by that pressure, we have problems. We have a little bit of pressure all year, don’t we? I mean, every game,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said when asked about any added pressure for the Louisville game. “We live in that world.

“I thought I heard that every day for the first five years. Every game was so important. We live there all the time. It’s about our preparation.  I really appreciate the way our team’s been practicing.”

Stoops admitted after UK’s 56-16 win over New Mexico State that he had watched some of Louisville’s win at Duke two days earlier. He said the Cards “looked very good” on TV.

Quarterback Will Levis hopes Kentucky can play a complete game at Louisville. He believes the win over LSU was as close as UK has been to playing a full game.

“We have had a really good couple of weeks of practice and we have to make sure that continues and carries on to the Louisville game,” Levis said.