Kentucky getting a visit from Louisiana pass rusher

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Kentucky football target Hayden Monroe has loved the LSU Tigers the way most Louisiana boys do, without being asked and with no plan to stop. On Saturday he goes to Lexington to watch the Bayou Bengals play someone else. That someone else would like very much to have him.

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Monroe is a 2028 athlete at Carencro who has played both sides of the ball and has never been caught apologizing for either. As a junior he has 37 tackles, six sacks, seven tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. He also has 12 quarterback hurries, which leads Louisiana. Sacks go in the newspaper. Hurries go in the film room, where coaches keep the things they truly believe.

That is why the phone rings. It rings from Lexington, and it rings from other places too.

“I’m really looking forward to experiencing an SEC game day and seeing the atmosphere at Kentucky,” Monroe said. “LSU is a team I grew up watching and loving, so getting to be there for that matchup makes it even more special. But Kentucky has really made me feel wanted throughout this process, and I’m excited to get around the coaches, see the program up close, and experience everything for myself.”

The order of those sentences is worth noticing. LSU gets the first mention and Kentucky gets the last word. A recruit does not volunteer that he feels wanted unless somebody has gone to the trouble of making him feel it.

Somebody has. Ethan Workman, Steve Gillette and Tony Washington have done much of the dialing, a three-man rotation in the oldest business in college football, which is persistence. Monroe has taken note.

“Kentucky has definitely been standing out with the way they’ve been recruiting me,” he said.

He has also watched the Wildcats play, and he did not need subtitles.

“I like the way they play defense and how physical they are,” Monroe said. “I feel like my versatility as an edge guy would fit what they’re building. I’ve also noticed they have guys from Louisiana on the roster, so that stands out to me because it shows they’re comfortable recruiting players from back home and those guys can come up there and fit in. I’m excited to learn more about how they see me in their defense.”

That second observation is the sort a recruit makes quietly and files away. Nobody wants to be the first Louisianan to make the drive north and find out the hard way whether anyone saved him a seat. Monroe has counted the heads already. He knows he would not be alone.

He is not exactly short of company on the call sheet, either. Cincinnati, by his account, phones him every day, and Tulane and Houston have shown him what he calls a lot of love. He does not sound like a young man in any hurry to choose.

“I’m keeping everything open right now and just continuing to build relationships,” he said.

That is the right answer, and it is the one every program in the chase would rather not hear.

So Kentucky will have its chance Saturday, with a full house, a rival he grew up cheering for and the three men who have been working the phones now standing in front of him. A visit is only a long look, and it cuts both ways. The program gets to show the boy what it is. The boy gets to decide whether he believes it.

For one afternoon, the Bayou will sit in the Bluegrass and watch what happens. What Monroe sees is his own business. Kentucky has done what it could to make it worth the drive.

This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Kentucky getting a visit from Louisiana pass rusher

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