The Athletic: How Kentucky has outhustled Michigan for Ohio recruits

In a lengthy profile of Kentucky recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow ($), who Mel Tucker is reportedly trying to bring to Michigan State, Ari Wasserman (The Athletic's OSU beat writer) describes how Kentucky has focused on taking OSU's Ohio leftovers away from Big Ten schools like Michigan. Michigan is behind not only OSU, but also Kentucky, ND, and MSU in recruiting 4- and 5-star prospects from Ohio:

Ohio always has been a main source of Big Ten talent, but a lot of that talent now is headed to Kentucky. UK identified the niche and attacked it, using Ohio-born coaches.

In the past seven recruiting cycles (2014-20), there were 93 four- and five-star prospects in Ohio. Ohio State predictably signed the most (38), followed by Kentucky (10), Notre Dame (eight), Michigan State (seven) and Michigan (five); the rest of the Big Ten has signed five total. That means Kentucky has signed almost 10 percent of the blue-chip prospects in Ohio in that span.

That’s a stark difference from what was happening before Stoops got to UK. In the 2009-2013 classes, there were 88 four- and five-star players in Ohio — and UK signed two. Ohio State (39) and Michigan (17) were the dominant schools.

Sense the pattern? Before Stoops and Marrow arrived at Kentucky, the Wildcats weren’t a factor in Ohio. Since Stoops and Marrow brought Kentucky into Ohio, the Wildcats have signed more blue-chip Ohio prospects than anybody outside of OSU. Not only that, Kentucky has signed more total Ohio prospects (47, one more than Michigan State) than any Big Ten school not named Ohio State...

Michigan, meanwhile, barely even attempts to recruit Ohio anymore even though the state has provided the Wolverines some of their best players over the years. The reason for these things happening? Marrow slips back into his chair and grins.

“The only team we have to track in Ohio is Ohio State because if they want an Ohio kid and recruit him the right way from the beginning, they are likely going to get them. But every other team, I’m not worried about them because we have beaten all of them for recruits in Ohio,” Marrow said, “What’s going on at other schools? I’m not going to say anything. You can come up with your own conclusion by what you see in the numbers. The proof is in the pudding.”

Kentucky is willing to take prospects that Michigan won't take—sure—and Kentucky may also be doing below-board things. But I'm curious to know how much Michigan is preemptively conceding these recruits to other schools.