Kentucky football lands first commit for 2025 recruiting class – a 4-star quarterback

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky football's momentum on the recruiting trail continued Friday. Only this time, coach Mark Stoops and the Wildcats looked further into the future.

After landing a commitment for its 2024 class earlier this week in Tennessee edge rusher Steven Soles Jr., UK picked up its first pledge in the 2025 cycle from Stone Saunders, a four-star quarterback from Pennsylvania. Saunders made the announcement during an appearance on ABC27 News, an affiliate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Saunders chose UK over his four other finalists, which included powerhouse programs Georgia and Michigan as well as national championship-winners Miami and Nebraska. Per the 247Sports composite, Saunders is the No. 20 QB nationally in the 2025 cycle, and the No. 8 recruit in Pennsylvania in his class.

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Saunders, who plays for Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg, won the MaxPreps Pennsylvania High School Football Player of the Year award last year after leading the school to its first state championship since 1995. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder tossed 54 touchdowns against just five interceptions in 2022 and had four games with six touchdown passes and two more with five.

Saunders finished the season with 3,583 yards passing while completing 68.7% (195 for 284) of his attempts.

He went 10 for 16 for 167 yards and five scores through the air to win the state title 41-18 over Aliquippa — a team that entered on a 25-game win streak, including a triumph over Bishop McDevitt in the championship tilt in 2021.

Saunders is the seventh high school player from Pennsylvania to commit to Kentucky since 2000. It marks the fourth straight recruiting cycle the Wildcats have had a Pennsylvania pledge; the other prospects to commit to UK during that time were defensive end Tyreese Fearbry (2022), offensive lineman Austin Ramsey (2023) and wide receiver David Washington Jr. (2024).

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What Stone Saunders' commitment means for Kentucky football

In the same vein as Cutter Boley's commitment in May, Saunders' pledge provides the Wildcats a dose of stability going forward at the game's most important position. Boley, who plans to enroll in January after reclassifying to the 2024 class, already will have been on campus for more than a year by the time Saunders arrives in Lexington.

By the fall of 2025, Saunders' first college season, here's what Kentucky's QB room would look like (if none of the signal-callers on the current roster elected to transfer or leave early):

• Deuce Hogan: sixth-year senior

• Kaiya Sheron: fifth-year senior

• Shane Hamm: fifth-year senior (walk-on who played in seven games last fall at Dayton)

• Destin Wade: fourth-year junior

• Boley: sophomore or redshirt freshman, pending how much he plays in 2024

• Saunders: freshman

Saunders can take his time to learn the offense while Boley (or someone else) has the reins.

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Yet Saunders' pledge represents something far greater than simply another win on the recruiting trail: it reinforces the influence offensive coordinator Liam Coen continues to wield with blue chip high schoolers since returning from the NFL. After his commitment, Boley admitted he likely wouldn't have picked UK if Coen wasn't on the coaching staff.

Coen's fingerprints are all over Saunders' commitment, too.

"(Coen is) always great with me. I’ve known him a long time. We were just having fun, watching a lot of film and watching practice," Saunders told Kentucky Sports Radio in April, recalling his visit to Lexington three months earlier. "He’s told me that I’d be a great fit for what he wants to do on offense and he loves how I play."

Recruiting, and developing, high school quarterbacks has been a weak spot for the Wildcats for years.

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Since 2017, Kentucky's starting signal caller in every season opener began college at another school: Stephen Johnson (JUCO transfer, 2017), Terry Wilson (JUCO transfer, 2018-20), Will Levis (2021 and 2022, Penn State transfer). Devin Leary, a North Carolina State transfer, will start the opener in 2023 barring injury.

Boley and Saunders give UK high-profile high school commitments in back-to-back years. And they're both among the most highly touted signal callers the Wildcats have landed since the advent of national recruiting services two decades ago.

Saunders has a 0.8979 rating in the 247Sports composite. In 247Sports' all-time recruiting rankings, which date back to 2000, that figure is the fourth best for a UK quarterback commit, behind Drew Barker (0.9454), Morgan Newton (0.9364) and Boley (0.9329). Lynn Bowden Jr. (0.9335), listed as an athlete in the 2017 class, was a quarterback in high school but played wide receiver for much of his time with the Wildcats.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football recruiting: 2025 QB prospect Stone Saunders commits