Five offers for Kentuckys top OL

Joe Morris has seen some talent come through Kentucky’s Mayfield High School in his coaching career, but nothing quite like the attention that Micah Jones is generating.

“We’ve had a lot of kids recruited and wind up playing college football at various levels, but I’ve not had anybody get the kind of calls and attention that Micah has so far – the amount or the quality,” he said. “He’s the most heavily-recruited player at this school in a long time, if ever.”

Jones (6-5, 336, 5.15) is the Bluegrass State’s top-rated offensive lineman for the Class of 2004. He recently measured in at just under 6-6 and 336 pounds at the western Kentucky combine, where he also ran an impressive 5.15 forty.

“That’s the big thing with him,” Morris said. “He’s a kid who’s 336 pounds and doesn’t look like he’s much more than 270. There’s not much fat on him at all. He’s a big, strong kid who can really move his feet… He’s a kid that I really believe has a chance to play professionally some day if things work out.”

Kentucky, Louisville, Indiana, Arkansas and Ole Miss have made scholarship offers. He’s also getting heavy attention from Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia, Miami and Michigan State, among others.

“Coach Warner from Miami was here. He used to be at Murray State, so he was familiar with this area and our program. They really like what they’ve seen of Micah on film,” Morris said. “We also had coach Washington from Tennessee here. He asked for some film to take back with him. Georgia sends a letter every day, and they’ve called him. Those are the kind of schools we’re talking about.”

Has Jones given any hints about favorites?

“I know he likes Kentucky a lot,” Morris said. “They’ve done a good job with him, really stayed on top of things. He likes coach Phillips and the way he’s gone about recruiting him.

“But it’s probably too early to say because of all the other attention he’s receiving. Right now, I think he’s just sitting back and soaking it all in.”

Another plus for Jones is that he recently achieved a qualifying score on his ACT. His next task is taking some summer school courses to raise his core GPA another point or two. He'll likely bypass the summer camp scene in order to concentrate on that.

“He’s going to be a qualifier,” Morris said. “He’s very close right now, and the big key was the ACT. He’s got that now, so I think a lot more schools are going to be offering scholarships this summer.”

As a junior, Jones anchored a Mayfield offensive line that helped produce more than 3,000 yards rushing and a Class A state championship.