Ty Ashley with his family and UK coach Will Stein during his visit to Kentucky. (UK Athletics Photo)
Owensboro three-star linebacker Ty Ashley was not going to be in any hurry to make his college commitment — or at least that was the original plan.
His offer list included Kentucky, Indiana, Notre Dame, Louisville, Michigan State, Missouri, Penn State, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and at least seven others. Owensboro was 13-2 in 2025 after starting the season with losses to St. Xavier and Louisville Christian Academy and beat Pulaski County 35-7 in the Class 5A state championship game. . He had 148 tackles, including 10 tackles for loss and three sacks.
He wanted to make a trip to Notre Dame this spring and planned to take official visits to several schools.
“That was my mindset and then I went to Kentucky’s Junior Day, met a lot of great people and got a chance to see how genuine the coaches were and how they cared about me more than just as a player,” the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Ashley said.
He went back to watch UK practice last week and that is when his “original” recruiting plan ended and he verbally committed to coach Will Stein and defensive coordinator Jay Bateman.
“I got to see them coaching live and just the energy there is a lot. I have been to a couple of other colleges and it was not like that energy-wise,” he said.
He went to Missouri, Cincinnati and Western Kentucky last week and had a trip to Notre Dame planned before making his commitment.
“I think I knew I was going to commit on Monday (of last week). I had a talk with some I am really close with and I just had a feeling I would be a Wildcat,” Ashley said. “I have been to UK games. I realized what I wanted and didn’t want to keep playing the recruitment games when I knew where I wanted to go.
“I know a lot of people who are Kentucky fans but that’s not why I am going to Kentucky. It just felt like him as soon as I stepped on campus.”
The previous UK coaching staff had not offered Ashley a scholarship even though he attended a summer camp in 2025 and thought he did well but he never heard from anyone on coach Mark Stoops’ staff.
“When coach Stein offered me he said he had watched a lot of film and then later he told me he saw the camp film and if he had seen that before he would have offered even earlier,” Ashley said.
One of his teammates was Mr. Football Evan Hampton, who ran for 2,035 yards and 31 scores. He signed with Vanderbilt. That’s why Ashley primarily played only on defense even though he scored a touchdown rushing and receiving last season. He says without Hampton he might be a power back in red zone situations and possibly play more tight end.
“First of all I will do what Coach tells me but I love helping my team out anyway I can. I love playing football,” Ashley, who also plays baseball for Owensboro, said. “I am kind of a combination of everything. At linebacker you usually see big heavy dudes plugging gaps but I am good in pass coverage and in the run game. I am kind of a taller guy and that gives me an advantage. I have good instincts and can process stuff faster than a lot of people. My game speed is faster than a lot of others.”
Kentucky previously had commitments from Jeffersontown safety Larron Westmoreland and Pulaski County offensive lineman Brady Hull in its 2027 recruiting class. The Rivals Industry Ranking has Ashley as the No. 46 linebacker in the 2027 class.
One Response
Keep the commits coming. The 3 Kentucky boys we have so far are all very talented ball players. I think we could end up with at least 6-7 players from Kentucky in this class maybe 7-8. The Key to building a great program is having at least 20% of your team full of kids who grew up wanting to play for Kentucky. That 20% or 1 out of 5 players will rub off on the other guys when they try to outwork everyone around them. If you can keep the kids that come here at that 20-25% level then that's the perfect number to me. You also have to retain at least 60-70% your team as a whole every year. I think Stein did a great job of keeping the players that he needed to keep. Gadson, Godfrey, Humphrey Grace, Nichols, and Bryant on defense to name a few. On offense Wood, Selm, Patterson, Rodriguez, Gilmore, and Miller. All these players and more were essential. But keeping this core of players will help Steins first team make it to a bowl game. On paper from what I've seen here and around the country is that our floor is 6-6 and our ceiling is 9-3. If we can flip one of those 3 losses to a win or we could be one of the first teams to make it to the playoff with a 9-3 record with our schedule. 9-3 6-3 is me shooting for the stars with this roster.