Stone Saunders and his family with UK offensive coordinator Liam Coen and head coach Mark Stoops during a recent visit to Lexington. (UK Athletics Photo)
Two things jumped out to me the last time I talked to Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
One, despite UK’s success with transfer quarterbacks, he insisted he wants to develop high school quarterbacks to be starting quarterbacks for the Wildcats.
Two, he’s not going to be a one-and-done offensive coordinator at UK again like he was after the 10-win 2021 season when he left for the Los Angeles Rams before coming back to Lexington for the 2023 season.
He’s already secured a commitment from Lexington Christian quarterback Cutter Boley, the No. 1 recruit in Kentucky for the 2024 recruiting class. Now Coen seems on the verge of getting one from Stone Saunders, a top 25 quarterback nationally in the 2025 recruiting class.
Saunders already has 25 scholarship offers going into his junior season and his final five schools are Georgia, Michigan, Kentucky, Nebraska and Miami. However, he also has offers from Texas A&M, Syracuse, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Maryland, Iowa, Duke, Connecticut, Colorado, Cincinnati and others.
Saunders, a four-star recruit per Rivals and ESPN, will make his college choice Friday at 6:25 p.m. EST on @abc27News. ESPN has him ranked as the No. 12 quarterback in his class.
He got his scholarship offer in January shortly after Coen officially rejoined the UK staff and has made unofficial visits to UK in January, April, June and July. He’s also been to Nebraska three times.
The 6-1, 195-pound Saunders threw for 3,583 yards and 54 touchdowns with just five interceptions his sophomore season at Bishop McDevitt High School in Pennsylvania in 2022. In two high school seasons, he has 101 touchdown passes.
He was the 2022-23 Gatorade Player of the Year in Pennsylvania and would give Coen two of the building blocks he wants to develop at quarterback and certainly indicated to me — and obviously them — that he has long-term plans to stay at Kentucky.
One Response
He has very impressive numbers and some top notch offers. I just feel like the Cats are about to take a giant step forward. Stoops IS the man to get it done.
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