Louisville football plucked this versatile recruit from Hodgenville

Jake Lourim | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Football's Petrino talks recruiting & summer preview U of L football head coach Bobby Petrino discusses summer recruiting and some of what he's seen this summer as he looks ahead to football season.

In the spring, while many high school junior football prospects were taking visits and hosting coaches and whittling lists, the Adkins family in Hodgenville was learning about recruiting staples like camps and 7-on-7 teams.

With their oldest, 17-year-old Anthony, the family had traveled for AAU basketball the previous two summers. Anthony had never been to a summer football camp.

His training program, Louisville’s Go Hard Elite, brought up the idea of going with the 7-on-7 team on a tour of five camps in five days from June 2-6. Anthony’s stepmother, Tonya, remembered the cost being $300 for the trip plus $20 for each camp.

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“We didn’t even know things like that exist,” Tonya Adkins said. “I said, ‘It’s $300. Pay for the camps. I’ll take the $400 gamble on a college scholarship.’”

When Anthony returned, he received an invitation to Louisville’s camp the following weekend, on June 9. Tonya was amazed when she spoke to her husband, Anthony’s father Tony, afterward.

“They offered him a scholarship,” Tony said.

“What?” Tonya replied.

“It was very overwhelming,” she said.

That day functionally ended Anthony’s recruiting process a week after it started. The following Friday, he committed to join Louisville’s 2019 recruiting class.

“It was one of the best things that could have happened,” Adkins said Wednesday.

When he announced his commitment, Adkins wrote on Twitter, “For as long as I can remember my Dad has always said, ‘If you want it, Go and Get it.’ And that has always stayed with me. … I wanted to play football there and that’s exactly what i’m (sic) going to do!”

Adkins’ father, Tony, repeated that expression over the phone Wednesday.

“The staff at Louisville, they wanted Anthony, and they showed me that they wanted him,” Adkins said. “They came and got him. You can’t lose with that.”

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Anthony, his father and his stepmother said they liked Louisville’s football facilities and that proximity to home was important. Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium is closer to LaRue County High School than some of Adkins’ high school opponents.

The family has four children — 17-year-old Anthony from Tony’s first marriage and 15-year-old Jeremiah, 12-year-old Jamieson and 9-year-old Jacob from Tonya’s first marriage. The couple, who both grew up in Hodgenville, reconnected when they moved back with children and have been married almost six years.

They shuttle all four kids off to various football, basketball and soccer games. But the summer football recruiting circuit is a first for them. Anthony has recently attended camps at Louisville, Kentucky and Western Kentucky.

“He did those three, and I’m like, this is great!” Tonya Adkins said.

Anthony Adkins said he has played running back, wide receiver, tight end, defensive end, defensive tackle, outside linebacker, inside linebacker and safety at various points during his three years of high school. He often has to move around in a small town like Hodgenville.

Adkins said he does not have a favorite position, though he projects best as an outside linebacker in college. If he adds weight to his frame, he could have a chance to develop there. If he stays on the thinner side, running back could be an option.

“Schools, they want players that can do more than one thing,” Adkins said. “I feel like my versatility is what kind of excites coaches, because I can do more than just run the ball. I can pass rush, I can catch, I can do all these other things that coaches want.”

The three-star athlete said he does not plan to visit any other schools, which makes him an outlier again. Half of the top 10 prospects in Kentucky remain uncommitted. But Adkins was happy with Louisville after a week.

“If I know what kind of car I want to buy, I don’t need to go to a lot and test-drive five or six other ones, because I know how I am: ‘Well, maybe this one would be a little nicer …’ No, I’m going to go and buy exactly what I want and come on back home,” Tonya Adkins said.

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“Because we have other things to do. He still has a high school football season to prepare for. He still has a high school basketball season. He still has his academics. And on top of that, this is his senior year. It is a lot.”

When the Adkins family first visited Louisville, new to the recruiting scene, they wanted to know about more than just the depth chart. Tonya Adkins said she asked coaches what they do to care for their players and how they ensure players attend class — familiar with the difficulty of corralling four boys.

The mother said the answers pleased her, and that it meant a lot to the family that Louisville extended the scholarship offer so soon. Later in their visit, after Anthony was done on the field, his stepmother looked back on the field and saw more prospects still running around.

“And you’re looking at their kid,” Adkins said, “and you’re going, ‘I’m glad they see what’s special in mine.’”

Jake Lourim: 502-582-4168; jlourim@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @jakelourim. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jakel.