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Kentucky football commit Grant Bingham of Johnson Central will open his season with two games in Lexington. Johnson Central will play Aug. 20 at Henry Clay and Aug. 27 at Lexington Catholic — two easy chances for UK fans in central Kentucky to see him play.

Johnson Central coach Jim Matney says his 6-6, 300-pound all-state offensive lineman is a “solid player” that continues to try and get better.

“We are trying to get him ready for UK,” Matney said. “We have had several kids out of the mountains do well in the line in college including recently with the boys from Belfry at Louisville and UK. A lot of schools are having success with mountain kids and he will be one because he’s a tough kid.”

Matney understands it’s important to let Bingham work on skills he’ll need at UK.

“We want to have him ready for Kentucky so we work on his overall package. He does not do a lot of pass blocking with us. We try to put in some extra time (with pass blocking) to get him ready for college,” the Johnson Central coach said. “He’s not had any letdown in his workouts since he committed to Kentucky.

“He has been pretty level-headed despite turning down Notre Dame, Michigan, Miami, and others. He’s a little bigger now but it is good weight he has put on. You can see he is thicker.”