By LARRY VAUGHT
Hayes Johnson knew recruiting would start picking up again after college coaches had a month with national signing day, the transfer portal and bowl games to deal with. Now those coaches like Kentucky associate coach Vince Marrow who visited him last week will turn their attention to the 2024 recruiting class.
Johnson is a 6-5, 295-pound three-star junior prospect from Taylor County High School with eight scholarship offers, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Baylor and Louisville.
“I still talk with Kentucky a lot. Ever since coach (Jeff) Brohm settled in at Louisville, we have talked a lot. Tennessee has been on it. So has a coach from Baylor,” said Johnson.
Johnson originally thought he would let his recruitment play out and take visits to Kentucky, Louisville and other places during the next few months. He had talked about taking a trip to Baylor.
However, that thinking changed and now Johnson will announce his college commitment Thursday at his high school. He said he thought about making his commitment while he was on Christmas break and “just decided to do it” now.
“I don’t think you can really describe how much pressure has been lifted off my chest,” Johnson said about his decision to commit now. “I have enjoyed building relationships with coaches but this is the right time to commit. I want to build the relationship with the school where I am going even more. You can only build a relationship so much without being committed. Once you commit, that relationship can get a lot better.”
He says a team’s 2022 record really did not impact his thinking a lot because he was not on those teams.
“I wanted all the teams recruiting me to do great,” Johnson said. “When I do get to college, I will just try to thrive and do the best I can to just play football.”
Johnson took some time off after Taylor’s season ended and during Christmas break when he went hunting and did a few otherthings.
“I got refreshed and ready to go again,” he said. “I was ready to get back to work and that’s what I have tried to do. I have to get in the weight room. We really got after it the week we played Paducah Tilghman (in the playoffs) and we have to do that every day in the weight room.
“We have got to build a culture here at Taylor County that when we come to practice we are going to walk in and not like anybody and then off the field be friends. I am attempting to get our guys working and light a fire under them. Losing by 40 to Paducah Tilghman is just not acceptable. We got our butts kicked and I don’t want that to happen again in high school or college.”
That’s the kind of fire that UK offensive line coach Zach Yenser wants in his players and why he started recruiting Johnson not long after he joined Mark Stoops’ staff in 2021.
“We talk a lot. It’s kind of a mix of football and other stuff with him,” Johnson said. “He is big into waterfowl hunting like I am, so we talk about that. A lot of times I ask him questions about stuff and how things work in college.
“I heard about a silent cadence and had him explain that to me. I learn something new just about every time I talk to him or other coaches. I like to pick up new things that way.”
Johnson has a lot of Kentucky ties and memories and says he “loves” Kentucky.
“I can remember the 2012 (basketball) championship night sitting there watching with my dad. I remember the Missouri (football) game when Lynn Bowden just went freaking off and we were in the nosebleed seats. I remember when we broke the streak against Tennessee in football,” Johnson said.
“Now I will go out to eat and people will say, ‘Go Cats,’ or something like that. People will do the L’s down. That happens a lot. Now the people in my circle, we hardly talk about recruiting. I am still the Hayes everybody knew before all this recruiting started.
“All the media attention does not matter to me or them. I am just going to be going to some college to play football but that won’t change who I am.”
Johnson knows 2023 Kentucky signees Malachi Wood of Madison Central and Koby Keenum of Alabama, two offensive linemen who enrolled at UK in January.
“It’s good to know those guys who will tell you how it is. It’s nice to hear about a school from the perspective of guys who are there knowing that’s where I might be in two years or so,” Johnson said. “Koby texted me back in September and I met him at the Mississippi State game. It’s just nice knowing guys already at a school you are interested in.”
Johnson will enroll early in college but also wanted to commit to get an even bigger head start on his collegiate career.
“I have learned in the past few months that you have to be extremely smart to play in college,” Johnson said. “I want to start learning things now that will help me at the collegiate level and this way I can start talking to coaches at the school where I will be going about that.”