By LARRY VAUGHT

Contributing writer

Now that his commitment to play football at the University of Kentucky is official, Lexington Catholic quarterback Beau Allen plans to be a strong recruiting face for the Wildcats.

“I am definitely going to be an active recruiter,” said Allen.

Of course, another in-state commit, Louisville Christian Academy offensive lineman John Young, committed a week earlier and then predicted both South Carolina cornerback Andru Phillips and Allen would do the same. Both did.

“We will definitely work together on recruiting. John can be pretty persuasive,” Allen laughed and said.

Allen said during his press conference at this school that he will try to recruit players like Vito Tisdale, Mike Drennen, Justin Rogers, Deondre Buford and Kalil Branham to join him at UK. Rogers is a five -star offensive lineman from Michigan.

Boyle County coach Chuck Smith played linebacker at UK. Later he coached linebackers at UK under Rich Brooks and Joker Phillips and also was UK’s recruiting coordinator. He’s faced Allen annually in intense high-school district games the last three years and Boyle will host Lexington Catholic this season.

Smith understands how important getting an in-state quarterback like Allen, who is ranked among the nation’s top 25 pro-style quarterbacks in the 2020 recruiting class, can be.

“It is vital! The quarterback is usually the face of the program and when you have a home-grown quarterback join your program and finds success it generates so much energy with the fan base,” Smith said. “The excitement and success that (in-state quarterbacks) Andre Woodson and Tim Couch brought about was electrifying.”

Allen completed 240 of 361 passes for 3,729 yards and 42 scores last year. He also ran for 747 yards and eight scores and says he’s been timed in 4.8 seconds in the 40-yard dash. He picked Kentucky over West Virginia, Georgia, Washington State, Duke, Penn State, Michigan State and others.

Smith likes a lot about Allen’s skills.

“He throws a nice catchable ball, good touch on it and he is very accurate. He gets it out fast and does not get rattled with pressure,” Smith said. “He seems to have the intangibles that are critical to being a great quarterback —  leadership skills, selfless, good teammate, etc.”

Smith considers Allen “mainly a passer” more than a dual-threat quarterback despite his rushing totals.

“He is not afraid to run and will run but passing is what makes him good,” Smith said. “He will be good at the college level. He maybe needs to fix the windup in his delivery, but he can get it out fast and is athletic enough to make plays.”

Boyle County receiver/defensive back Reece Smith recently committed to West Virginia. His teammate, Landon Bartleson, is weighing offers from a number of schools including Notre Dame, Ohio State, Kentucky and Louisville.  Last year Nebraska signee Wandale Robinson was in the same district and earned Mr. Football honors.

“There are a lot of good football players right here in central Kentucky,” Smith said. “Our district just happens to have three or four of the best. I would not be surprised to see Mr Football come from our district. It should be an exciting year and definitely getting Beau is a big plus for Kentucky.”

Allen made his decision to commit to Kentucky during his official visit a week earlier — the same time Young and Phillips visited. He told head coach Mark Stoops then.

“They were very excited and they all were very welcoming,” Allen said. “It was hard to stay quiet and not tell anyone. We had something set up at the school and it just worked out better for everybody to wait a week. I wanted to get the word out so everybody could see I was fully committed to UK but it all worked out.”

Like Young and Phillips, Allen doesn’t plan to take any more college visits or talk to any other college coaches. He’s not sure about his summer schedule other than he’ll be at Kentucky “many times” over the summer.

“I just know there will be no other visits for me because after my official visit I knew everything I needed to know about where I wanted to be,” Allen said.