‘He’s not your normal kicker or punter.’ Boyle County star Jackson Smith picks UK.

Jackson Smith has been impressing scouts since he was in middle school. As an eighth-grader for Boyle County Middle School, he kicked a 51-yard field goal in the 2017 state championship game against Corbin.

He’s not had the opportunity to kick a field goal from 50 yards or further in high school, but he’s regularly nailed important field goals for the Rebels, including the go-ahead score from 23 yards out to put Boyle County on the right side of a 31-28 result to decide last year’s state Class 4A championship. After this fall, he’ll look to do things like that for the University of Kentucky, to whom he committed during an appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio on Thursday.

Smith became the fifth commit of UK’s 2022 class, joining two other in-state standouts — Johnson Central offensive tackle Grant Bingham and Corbin athlete Treyveon Longmire — along with Jeremiah Caldwell (Michigan athlete) and Andre Stewart (Georgia defensive back).

“Their coaching staff and everything about it just stands out,” Smith told the Herald-Leader in a phone interview Thursday morning. “All the players there, it’s like one big family. The coaches really care about the players. The facilities are unlike any other. I just feel like it’s the right fit for me.”

Kentucky fans likely recall Andy Smith, Jackson’s father. He was an All-Southeastern Conference selection at punter for the Wildcats in 1999, and in his spare time coaches kickers for ProKicker.com. That service, which rates specialists, tabs Jackson as a five-star punter and place-kicker — the only player ranked to earn that distinction in both categories.

Jackson’s average kickoff distance — 66.75 — is nearly 2 yards better than the next-best average, and his average hang time is the best by 0.14 seconds. He’s one of eight top-25 kickers who made 100 percent of his field-goal tries in a camp setting.

A lot of high school kickers are converted soccer players who only show up on Friday nights. Not Jackson: Justin Haddix, Boyle’s head coach, said that Jackson last year was a backup at linebacker and tight end for the Rebels, and that he’s likely to start at one of those positions this fall.

“He’s not your normal kicker or punter,” Haddix said, noting that Jackson works with the regular scout team in Boyle’s practices and only kicks during special-teams periods. “He’s an athlete that can kick and punt. Obviously he’s very good, but he can do a lot of other things too.”

Kentucky’s newest commit offered a sentiment often delivered by players at other positions.

“I like playing football,” Jackson said. “I like hitting people.”

Andy said that his son is bench-pressing nearly 300 pounds. While he’s likely to slot in at kicker at Kentucky, he’s worked on the Aussie-rules style roll out that’s been widely adopted by college programs and could punt at the next level as well if called upon.

Kentucky wasn’t a slouch during Andy’s time there — the Wildcats made bowl games during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, and he played alongside an all-time quarterback in Tim Couch — but he’s astounded by the progress the program has made in the two decades since he was lining up between the lines at Kroger Field (known as Commonwealth Stadium in his day).

“We’ve not visited everywhere, but two years ago when colleges were able to have camps, we went to Alabama, we went to Florida, gosh I don’t even remember, we went all over, and no joke, I would put Kentucky’s facilities in the top five in the country, at least of the ones I’ve seen,” Andy said. “There’s a commitment there from the administration, from the ground level up, to have winning football. ... As an alumni, I’m just so proud and excited about the way (Coach Mark Stoops) is building the program.”

Now he’s got an additional reason to cheer on his alma mater.

“It’s a win-win-win, in my opinion, for any recruit, but selfishly I’m just so excited ‘cause he’s gonna be close and I played there,” Andy said. “And I legitimately feel like Kentucky’s going to be competing for the SEC East (Division) for the next several years. It’s exciting.”

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