UK commit Black an elite athlete
Published 8:00 am Wednesday, July 15, 2026
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Dominic Black (center) is a four-star recruit but was also an all-state basketball player for coach Josh Sagester (left). Sagester’s son, Trey, played both football and basketball with Black. (SUBMITTED)
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Kentucky women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks slaps hands with freshman Maddyn Greenway, a McDonald’s All-American. (KENTUCKY ATHLETICS)
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Senior safety Ty Bryant (14) likes the aggressive system that new Kentucky defensive coordinator Jay Bateman uses. (VICKY GRAFF)
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Milan Momcilovic appreciates the passion that Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope has. (VICKY GRAFF)
Four-star offensive lineman Dominic Black of New Madison (Ohio) Tri-Village High School had almost 40 major college scholarship offers when he committed to Kentucky over Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Michigan State and others.
The 6-foot-5, 290-pound Black is rated as a top 200 national recruit by both Rivals and 247Sports. Rivals has him as the No. 12 offensive tackle in his recruiting class.
However, Black can do more than play football. He set a school record with a toss of 55 feet, 7 inches in the shot put. He was the starting center and third team all-state selection on his basketball team that went 26-1 and lost in the regional final.
His basketball coach, Josh Sagester, has a unique relationship with Black since he’s in his 14th year as school district superintendent. He has also been a teacher and elementary principal in the school district.
Sagester, a former Mercer University basketball player, has a daughter, Rylee Sagester, playing basketball at Wright State after scoring 2,001 points in high school and setting a state record with 401 3-pointers. His son, Trey, was a two-time state player of the year and 2,000-point scorer who was a Mr. Basketball finalist last year as a senior when he averaged 25 points per game. He will play at Ferris State, which has won four of the last five Division II national championships.
“I have known Dom since he was a baby. His mother is my guidance counselor,” Sagester, 47, said. “I coached him in PeeWee football and junior high football. I have coached him in basketball all the way. He is a very special athlete and young man.
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“He is a really good basketball player. He has good hands and a good touch. He is an old school, back to the basket guy who finishes well. For his size, he moves really well and can be dominant in the paint because he has such a wide body defenders cannot get around him. He really likes basketball and always competes.”
Black averaged 11.7 points per game and shot 72.8% from the field. He also averaged a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game along with 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
What about on the football field?
“He is really big and athletic in our league. He has always been a left tackle and played with his hand in the dirt. He wanted to be running back and receiver, but we all knew that would not be in the cards with his body,” Sagester said. “He embraces his role. We like to make our hogs (offensive linemen) feel special around here. My son was the quarterback and he had a good line in front of him led by Dom. He did not get touched much.”
Sagester said what sets Black apart is the way he moves for someone weighing 290 pounds.
“He is very agile and moves well on his feet. Obviously he’s massive and we knew he had a chance to be special because of his mobility,” the basketball coach said. “His bloodline has a lot of size. He has gotten nastier as he has gotten older.
“He’s been part of a lot of good teams. He understands winning and high expectations and standards. I think that will help him a lot at the next level.”
Sagester tried to stay out of Black’s football recruiting, but did talk with his mother at times.
“She is an awesome lady and I would just try to pick her brain. I could kind of tell when asking different things that he was high on Kentucky. I didn’t know how high, but I could tell there was something he really liked about UK and his mom did, too,” the basketball coach said.
“He had his commitment party with a lot of teammates and coaches there. We are all so proud of him. I am a SEC guy. I am a Georgia Bulldog fan and that does not set well in (Ohio State) Buckeye country, but I am already excited for the Kentucky-Georgia matchup. I have actually attended some UK-Georgia games in Lexington.
“This has all been so exciting for his family and friends. He’s going to stay close enough to home that we can see him play and that is exciting because he’s very popular here.”
Sagester doesn’t know if he will have Black back to anchor his 2026-27 team or if he will enroll early at Kentucky and give up his senior basketball season.
“We hope he is back, but I don’t know that he has made that decision yet or when he will,” Sagester said. “We always want what is best for him, but I would be lying if I said I did not want him in the paint with me next year. We lost my son and another guy, but we have got a nice group coming back. We have a chance to be special and he would be the anchor for the team. But he has to do what is best for him and that’s what I want him to do.”
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Josh Edwards, a 247Sports recruiting analyst who writes for The Cats’ Pause, understands that getting a verbal commitment from Beechwood receiver Tyler Fryman was “important for bragging rights” in the Bluegrass. However, he said it was also important because of what the speedy, versatile Fryman can do on the field.
“He still has time to work on running a full route tree, but it is easy to see the nuance that he puts into his craft; snapping off comeback routes, flattening out routes, etc,” Edwards said. “He should be able to be used in the short to intermediate routes as well as downfield.”
Edwards says Fryman’s “competitive toughness” stands out more than anything about him.
“As everyone knows, he plays baseball, but fans may not know that he also played defense for his football team. He will fly down from depth to make a tackle in the backfield,” Edwards said. “He can break down in space and make a tackle.
“His natural feel for the game allows him to create leverage and separation post-catch.”
Fryman is not the state’s highest ranked recruit, but the former Louisville baseball commit has loads of potential.
“We will see how this year’s group of (UK) wide receivers develop, but I do think Fryman has a skillset that could allow him to see the field early,” Edwards said.
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Kentucky went 25-11 last season, reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen and had four players picked in the WNBA draft. Yet coach Kenny Brooks said it was his “most challenging spring ever” because of the changing college athletics landscape.
“You have to be ready to adapt or you will get left behind,” Brooks said. “You don’t have time to sit back and reflect.”
That means conversations with returning players to see if what they want and what Brooks needs will work for both sides. Two Kentucky players – Lexie Blue and Kaelyn Carroll – opted to transfer rather than stay at UK. Blue had been at Kentucky two years, Carroll one.
“Lexie wanted more of an opportunity to play. Mine and her conversation was great. We shared hugs. She sent me a Happy Father’s Day text. We are still good. I will root for her,” Brooks said.
Carroll was a McDonald’s All-American who figured to have a much more prominent role this season if she had not transferred.
“I love KK and wish her the best and she will do wonderful things. Things just did not work out here,” the Kentucky coach said.
Brooks said in today’s college athletics landscape it does not mean something is wrong if a player transfers.
“Kids are looking for great opportunities. It’s important to have conversations and there are negotiations that go on. It is just harder,” he said.
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Safety Ty Bryant enjoyed playing the last three seasons for defensive coordinator Brad White, but has quickly embraced the approach that new UK defensive coordinator Jay Bateman has.
“He’s another smart guy and I’m glad just to be able to pick his brain when it comes to knowing ball because you can’t know too much ball. I love the way he runs his defense, a lot more aggressive style,” Bryant said on The Leach Report with Tom Leach.
“A lot more man-to-man defense. I’m getting after the quarterback a little bit more. He’s just a smart guy. So it’s just cool just to go in there and pick his brain.”
Bryant was a team leader at Frederick Douglass High School and has been at UK for White, something that has not changed under Bateman. Bryant likes the way linebacker Grant Godfrey has “found his voice” under Bateman.
“You saw it in spring ball. He was just taking control, yelling at guys, breaking the defense down. Just little things like that. He’s an emerging leader for sure.”
Junior defensive back Terhyon Nichols is another player showing more leadership.
“You see him talking to his position group all the time. We’re doing accountability teams and even at yoga he pulled his team together and had a little talk. I hang out every day with him. It’s cool just to see him grow as a leader and talk in front of the crowd because he wasn’t doing that when he first got here.”
Senior safety Jordan Castell, a Florida transfer, is another player Bryant sees growing as a defensive leader.
“He’s a guy that doesn’t really talk too much, but he’s commanding and leading the guys,” Bryant said.
Stein has already made one thing clear – Kentucky will be physical. Bryant said practices are “way more physical” than they were last season just as Stein told him they would be the first time they met to make sure players can endure a long season.
What would his message be to UK fans about what to expect this season?
“You should expect a hard working team, a team that’s gonna give it their all, a team that’s gonna collect a lot of wins and send you home happy,” Bryant said. “We can’t wait to see y’all this fall, and we appreciate you all.”
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Milan Momcilovic has been given the green light by Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope to shoot 10 or more 3-pointers per game, but the Iowa State transfer likes how Pope holds players accountable.
“If you shoot a bad shot, he’s going to let you know. So I think that’s really cool because he wants the best offense possible,” said Momcilovic, the nation’s top 3-point shooter last season. “If you’re throwing up jump passes, turning it over, throwing up bad shots, he’s going to let you know and he’s going to make you run (in practice) for those things.
“Those are all ingredients for a bad offense, and we want to be one of the more efficient offenses in the country this year.“
He admits there has been a “learning curve” when it comes to Pope’s terminology compared to other coaches he’s had.
“It’s just a little bit of a different language he uses. Obviously a little bit different offense, so you kind of just have to just learn and adjust to that. But I’m a veteran now, so I’ve seen a lot of things and I pick up on things really easily,” Momcilovic said. “I can feel the passion, the energy that he wants to have a really good year this year. He wants to exceed expectations.”
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Quote of the Week: “They’re big, they’re athletic, they’re quick, they’re smart. I think it’s going to be probably the best offensive line in Kentucky football history. And that’s hard for me to say,” former UK/NFL offensive lineman Logan Stenberg, on UK’s 2026 offensive line.
Quote of the Week 2: “It’s important because even if these schools don’t have a guy right now that’s gonna be good enough to play for us, there’s gonna be a kid that’s coming through at some point that needs to play for the University of Kentucky and we want them to know us and remember us,” UK tight ends coach Justin Burke, on the importance of keeping relationships with Kentucky high school coaches.
Quote of the Week 3: “He understands everything – just to watch him and see how he goes about it. I have my own wrinkle to what I do, but kind of understand it from him, and take off from there,” Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic, on how teammate Trent Noah helps him.
