Quarterback Cade Elam is a Louisville baseball commit but coach Tom Greer says he throws a football as well as former UK/NFL quarterback Tim Couch. (Charlie Crawford Photo)
The four-star Smith twins — Jerod and Jacob — joined a Corbin team this season that returned eight starters on offense and six on defense of last year’s 14-1 team that outscored opponents 620-203.
However, the unbeaten Redounds have other star players going into Friday night’s showdown against Frederick Douglass in Corbin.
Junior quarterback Cade Elam is a Louisville baseball commit but is a special player. He completed 158 of 219 passes for 2,455 yards and 33 scores with just three interceptions last year. He also ran for 520 yards and 14 touchdowns.
“He was really good last year and he’s grown a little bit, got a little taller,” Greer said. “He spins the ball as well as any quarterback I have seen. I was at Bell County and we played against Tim Couch and he can throw and spin as well as Couch did but he’s only 6-2 and that has worked against him with college coaches.
“He is a big-time baseball player and some feel like he could get drafted out of high school. But if he got a Power-Five offer for football, he just might take it.”
Elam hit .438 and drove in 40 runs last season.
This season he is 46 of 64 passing for 745 yards and eight touchdowns with just one interception and also has three touchdowns rushing.
Sophomore tight end Eli PIetrowski caught 22 passes for 317 yards and four scores last year. His father, Tony, a former star basketball player at Corbin and Eli averaged 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a freshman.
“He’s 6-3, runs very well and works very hard to get better,” Greer said. “His father was a phenomenal basketball player but never played football. At the end of Eli’s eighth-grade year I told him he had to keep Eli playing football and he told me I had to keep him playing basketball because he loves football more than basketball and football will be his ticket (to college).”
Greer said UK football coaches watched both Elam and Pietrowski, who has four catches for 118 yards and one score this year, in the spring and liked what they saw.
“I really hope UK will offer them both,” the Corbin coach said.
Kentucky has offered 5-10, 195-pound senior running back Guy Bailey a preferred walk-on opportunity. He has four catches for 80 yards and one score this season and 23 rushes for a team-high 164 yards and two scores this season.
He had two 1,000-yard rushing seasons at Somerset. Bailey ran 201 times for 1,388 yards and 15 scores in 12 games and caught 18 passes for 216 yards and one score in 2022 and ran 148 times for 1,140 yards and 11 scores and caught 22 passes for 134 yards in 2021.
“He’s a really good player who has also fit in great with our team,” Greer said. “His dad, Danny, is from Corbin and we graduated high school together. He is a very strong runner with great balance and speed (4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash). He cuts well.
“He had a great game against Lexington Catholic but tweaked his ankle midway of the second quarter and played like he was on a flat tire in the second half. I did not play him last week but he’s ready to go now.”
