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He played college football at Indiana and spent four years in the National Football League after being drafted in the fourth round by Cleveland. He’s also currently the offensive line coach at Louisville Male.

Isaac Sowells Sr. obviously has a terrific football background/knowledge and admitted he might be “biased” but still thought a case could be made for Isaac Sowells Jr. being the best player in Kentucky in the 2025 recruiting class.

The 6-2, 295-pound Sowells Jr. is a three-star offensive lineman at Male where his father started coaching last year and is currently ranked as the state’s No. 5 player by 247Sports. He visited South Carolina last weekend and will be at Kentucky this weekend before taking trips to Miami, Louisville and North Carolina State.

“We have a structure laid out to do his visits and the week after the NC State visit we are going on vacation during the (Kentucky high school) dead period like we always do,” Sowells Sr. said. “I promised him when we go on vacation we will not talk about football or visits unless he asks me. We will be gone for eight days. He will commit on July 18th.”

Sowells Sr. knows it is harder for any offensive lineman to be rated as highly as players at some other positions. However, he believes his son made major improvement from his sophomore to junior seasons.

“He played center his sophomore year and started at center as a junior but transitioned to right tackle because we needed him on the edge,” Sowells Sr. said. “In college he does not project as a tackle but mostly a center because he is a smart kid. However, he can play tackle in a pinch and played it at a high enough level to make all-state. He was the first first-team offensive lineman from Male since 2002. The kid can play. I know I’m biased but he can really play.”

Sowells Jr. had 87 knockdown blocks in 13 games last season and his father says his son is a “film junkie” who started studying line play in middle school, including defensive line play.

“I groomed him as a center but I knew if he grew to 6-6 he could be a tackle,” Sowells Sr. said. “You see his aggressiveness on film. He wants to dominate. He’s always been aggressive and never had to coach him on that. He is very smart, too. He has a 3.8 GPA. He has a solid football IQ and loves ball. He is dedicated to his craft.”

Sowells Sr. knows recruiting is much different now with social media than when he was recruited.

“I have nothing to do with his Twitter page. His mother kind of monitors it a little bit but he doesn’t put anything egregious on there. He will tell you Twitter is a very powerful tool and has helped his recruiting,” Sowells Sr. said. “Last summer he went to 12 camps in 15 days. I will never do that again but I will not apologize for the outcome because he got a lot of offers.”

The Male offensive lineman’s grandfather played football at Louisville. His grandmother attended Louisville. Sowells Sr. is fine if his son wants to stay in state to play college football or if he decides to go out of state.

“We never want him to compromise for us. It would benefit his Mom and I if he played at Louisville or UK absolutely but if his heart is at another place we would not want him to resent us because we asked him to stay home,” Sowells Sr. said.

Louisville fans tell Sowells Sr. they do not want his son going to Kentucky and UK fans say the same about Louisville.

“I do like the UK-Louisville rivalry from afar. I have no dog in the fight. I went to IU,” he said.

The family has bought the right shirts to wear on each college visit.

“All the stuff came in the mail so we would have the right colors for each visit until we finally know where he’s going,” Sowells Sr. said. “You have to play the game the right way in recruiting just like you do on the field.”