If you follow this site at all, we shouldn’t have to tell you what #Brotherhood means. It is the hashtag for Team Kentucky Future Stars, and the Director, Ricco Hughes, has “the eye.” His “Future Stars” round into just “Stars” almost all the time.
Add to the list three more from the #Brotherhood to the stars having matriculated through Director Hughes’ program. Yesterday, in a move that has many wondering if Kentucky Wesleyan hasn’t just bumped up to play Division I football, the Panthers extended three offers to three “can’t miss” rising seniors among the offers it extended.
These are four names which should be familiar to readers of this site. They are four players all of whom have been before featured by us. Yesterday, Head Coach Craig Yeast and his staff offered…
Grayson Cook, 6-4, 220-pounds, LB/DE/Punter/Place-kicker, Belfry High School, Class of 2020.
We hosted Grayson last summer at our All-State mountain combine in Pikeville, Kentucky. His performance in that combine was akin to what one would expect from a Beowulfian hero, not a high-school rising junior.
Cook ran both his 40s in the low 4.5s with his first being 4.52 seconds and his second being 4.51. His fastest pro-agility shuttle (5-10-5) was 4.30 seconds and his fastest L-cone drill was the fastest at the entire combine at 6.5 seconds.
Any defense, aligned in a 3-4 as a base defense, relies heavily on versatility in the linebacker corp. While the inside LBs are allowed to run to the football in the 3-4, the OLBs, where Grayson plays, have to make plays as edge defenders out of the stand-up, two-point stance.
Grayson has consistently showed both while playing for Belfry High School and attending different combines, during either the one on ones or seven on seven portions, that he has the ability to rush off the edge, close the formation, or hold the point versus the strong-side run, while exhibiting the ability to make plays as a cutback defender, and also display the athleticism to drop in coverage.
Grayson exhibited the speed and agility to drop into coverage and take away the 10-15 yard out with his speed and length, while still possessing the closing speed to get to the swing and screen pass, or the sweep or stretch in the outside ground game. Grayson was awarded Top Honors by our combine for his position and was one of the best pure athletes we saw on the Mountain.
This past season, while missing two games with an ankle injury, Cook tied for third on the team in tackles with 86, collected 5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and registered an interception. Grayson was 42 of 46 in PATs, and kicked a couple of field goals. Grayson also handled the punting duties where he averaged 43 yards per punt-attempt, all for which he was selected to the AP’s All-State Football team.
As a sophomore, Grayson registered 51 tackles, caught a pass covering 45-yards, and converted 19 PATs as a kicker. Grayson also blocked a punt. Grayson was selected a KPGFootball, sophomore, All-State football player following that season and honorably mentioned on the AP’s squad though only a sophomore at the time.
There’s nothing wrong with Grayson’s speed, quickness, athleticism (32 inch vertical; 9’10” broad jump, 19’6″ long-jump, and 40-foot triple jump in track & field), or versatility. There’s nothing wrong with his grades (3.6 GPA in advanced placement classes with a 25-ACT; he’s been invited to both Cornell and Yale’s Junior Days).
As for frame, Grayson couldn’t be better. Grayson is 6’4″ tall, with an 80-inch reach, and weighs 220-pounds. Grayson was offered a full ride to come play linebacker at the prestigious IMG Academy. You know, the one in Bradenton, Florida which is considered the world’s largest and most advanced multi-sport training and educational institution. Grayson elected to stay in Kentucky to finish his high school career at Belfry, maybe he can make Owensboro his college home.
Riley Thompson, 6-2, 200-pounds, LB, Graves County, Class of 2020.
Thompson figures to be, in 2019, one of Kentucky’s premier LBs certainly in western Kentucky and probably in the entire commonwealth. Thompson’s performances at two recent combines, where we have seen him, have left no reason for any of those expectations to be the least bit dampened.
Thompson has demonstrated superior athletic-ability. He ran a 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds-flat, broad-jumped 9’4″ or 122-inches, completed the L-cone in 7.27 seconds, and short-shuttled in 4.38 all at the Elite 3 Fondation’s Tennessee Mega Camp earlier in May. This is a linebacker who showed straight line speed and the change of direction “quicks” to chase down plays, close on stuff in front of him, or play flat into the boundary.
Thompson was equally impressive in the agilities and the one-on-ones at Wesleyan’s prospect camp. We have seen college scouts encircle both his parents and him like scavengers encircle road-kill so his getting offered was a matter of when and never an if. Riley Thompson showed himself to be elite which basically means he fit in very well with what was around him at the Wesleyan prospect camp.
Terrion Thompson, 6-1, 245-pounds, DT, Bowling Green Senior High, Class of 2020.
This is a kid who will greatly benefit from a college weight program as he is only 16-years old entering his senior year in high school. This has to make him among the youngest members of Kentucky’s prospect class of 2020.
That aside, you have a DT in Thompson (no relation to Riley) who has been clocked at 4.9 in the 40-yard dash, short shuttles in 4.8, squats in the 450-pound range, and reps the high school combine bench press amount of 185-pounds, 15 times. Imagine what this kid will do as he matures into legal adulthood.
Imonte Owsley, 5-8, 175-pounds, Owensboro Senior High, Class of 2020.
Widely considered the most electric, fast, and quick football player on the western end of Kentucky outside of Louisville, Owsley is a player who can play on either side of the football. Imonte, or “Monte” as he is called by his friends, plays both corner and running back for the Red Devils.
On offense, he can’t be tackled in a phone booth. He’s like tackling smoke. On defense, he has the athleticism, hips, and speed to get over top the vertical stuff and close on the underneath routes too. Owsley just ran a 10.98-second, 100 meter at the Regional Track & Field Championships in Henderson, Kentucky a few weeks ago. Owsley has been timed at 7.12-seconds over 60-meters which converts to a 4.34-second, 40-yard dash time. Track times are fully automated, so Monte is plenty fast.
All three of these athletes are FBS, Division I caliber athletes and players who are very interested in what the Yeast staff at Kentucky Wesleyan has to offer. This is a very good sign for this program and these three former Future Stars have picked up a very prestigious offer from a program definitely on the rise.
Here’s a word to the wise to the prospects out there in Kentucky from old HB, don’t sleep on Kentucky Wesleyan. There’s something very good going on in Owensboro, Kentucky and KPGFootball just loves it!
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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