Griff Galloway, center, had obvious connections to Clemson coach Dabo Swinney but still committed to UK Friday. (X Photo)
Kentucky coach Will Stein and his staff have had amazing success recruiting talented players but Friday pulled off what had to be a huge recruiting upset.
Griff Galloway, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive lineman, committed to the Wildcats over Clemson, Florida, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Texas A&M and others. He played at Providence Day School in Charlotte, N.C., and is the top-ranked player in the state.
On3 recruiting had Clemson with a 44 percent chance for Clemson to land Galloway. Instead, he became the 18th commit in the 2027 recruiting class for Stein and his staff. Rivals Industry Rankings has him ranked as the nation’s 625 best player in his recruiting class. He is the No. 56 edge rusher nationally.
What makes this such an intriguing commitment for Stein, defensive coordinator Jay Bateman and defensive line coach Anwar Stewart is that Galloway’s father, Lonnie, is an offensive analyst on Clemson coach Dabo Swinney’s staff. He was the assistant head coach/passing game coordinator/receivers coach at North Carolina under coach Mack Brown but Brown’s successor, Bill Belichick, did not keep him on staff.
Lonnie Galloway came to UNC after serving as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Louisville for three seasons from 2016-18. He has also made stops at Elon (1996-02), East Carolina (2003-04), Appalachian State (2005-07), West Virginia (2008-10, 2013-15), and Wake Forest (2011-12).
Earlier this week Kentucky got commitments from four-star cornerback Miles Brown of Tennessee and three-star running back Kelsey Gerald of Florida. Kentucky’s high school recruiting class ranks in the top 20 nationally.
Bateman teased on social media early Friday that a commitment was coming and then Galloway committed. Bateman visited Galloway at his school and Galloway visited Lexington earlier this spring.
Kentucky has also offered Galloway’s teammate, Charles Chuck Ibe of Providence Day, a scholarship3
One Response
Stein is cooking on the recruiting trail. Football recruiting is much different then basketball recruiting. In basketball you want to recruit players in the top 150. In football you want to get players ranked in the top 650. Because there are so many positions and you have offense and defense. There might be someone ranked #600 that is better than someone ranked #200. The one player I hope we can possibly flip is Seneca Driver. Also Tyler Fryman is a must get. He has all the tools to be a incredible wide receiver in college. I wish Fryman would hurry up and commit. It would help our recruiting class so much. He's a top 200 recruit and could make our class jump up a couple of positions. On 247 we have the #9 class. If Fryman would commit we would have the #7 class. The on3 ranking is #17 and we would have the #15 class if he committed. Tyler Fryman come on down.