Blue-chip recruit Matt Ponatoski will sign with Kentucky Football on Wednesday

It took all of one day for Will Stein to land his first major commitment as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Sure, Matt Ponatoski may have been committed to the Wildcats since the summer, but once Mark Stoops and the rest of his staff were let go, many wondered if the 4-star QB would end up decommitting.

Initially, Ponatoski said he was still committed to Kentucky but planned to sign in February, giving other schools ample opportunity to poach him. He was actually trending toward signing late, even if Kentucky had kept Stoops.

However, Ponatoski has now announced on Twitter that he will officially sign with Kentucky on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period.

This becomes the first big get of the Will Stein era, as Ponatoski is widely regarded as one of the top quarterback prospects in the class of 2026. The Archbishop Moeller product is currently ranked 188th nationally, 10th in the state of Ohio, and 13th among QB prospects, according to 247 Sports Composite, which factors in all the major recruiting rankings.

Ponatoski is also a high-level baseball player and will continue to play baseball at UK.

A big reason Stein was able to get this done so quickly is that he spent extensive time recruiting Ponatoski while still the Oregon offensive coordinator. The Ducks were viewed as Kentucky’s biggest threat to land this blue-chip prospect, so it makes sense that hiring Stein helped give the Cats an even bigger edge in getting the Ohio native to sign early.

Here’s to hoping this is the first of many other major gets for Stein and Co. in the coming weeks.

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