Kentucky Goes All Out, Sends 182 Letters in One Day To 5-Star Recruit Matt Elam

You can't blame the University of Kentucky for trying to do everything it can to stand out in the SEC in terms of recruiting, and that includes sending 182 letters to one recruit, in one day. 

At the very least, Mark Stoops and his staff are trying. That's half the battle.

Matt Elam, a 5-star defensive tackle, according to 247Sports, from Elizabethtown, Ky., posted on Twitter a picture with a caption stating that Kentucky had sent him 182 recruiting letters:

"

Okay Okay Here Is A Picture Of 182 Letters From UK This Has To Be A Record Or Something Ha !! BBN #Crazy #WeAreUK pic.twitter.com/A5xeBwkRa9

— Matt Elam™6⃣9⃣ (@FballIsLife69) July 1, 2013"

Truthfully, in today's world of college football recruiting, receiving 182  letters over a short period of time is about a thousand degrees shy of surprising, so at first glance, this just seems like a cool picture.

Exactly how did he fit all of those letters into one "twitpic?"

Organization at its finest...

Bleacher Report Assistant College Football Editor Eric Bowman wasn't satisfied with just the picture, so he dug a little bit further and tweeted the recruit. Elam's response to Bowman revealed that all 182 of these recruiting letters arrived in one day:

"

@E_ROCK12 All Today The Mail Lady Said You Must Be A Good Basketball Player Haha

— Matt Elam™6⃣9⃣ (@FballIsLife69) July 1, 2013"

Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is awesome. 

Stoops has done a fantastic job recruiting at Kentucky so far, but now his secret is out. The Wildcat is out of the bag, per se. 

The blueprint has been set.

Inheriting a 2-10 football program in the toughest conference in college football both on the field and on the recruiting trail? No problem—just go above and beyond and cross the plain into ridiculousness.

Seriously, kids these days love hype, attention and just about anything that can be posted on Twitter or filtered through an Instagram lens, so there really is wisdom in ditching conventional wisdom and going all out.

This is not a new formula in recruiting, but it's one that's becoming more and more relevant, if not legitimate.

Look no further than Mississippi State's "swag" or the numerous offers that have been made to kids that haven't even walked the halls of a high school yet. On that note, this isn't even the first time Kentucky has sent hundreds of letters to a recruit in a single day. If it worked with Drew Barker, who says it won't work with Elam?

This is what recruiting is becoming—over-the-top, attention-grabbing gimmicks.

Kentucky's big mail day to Elam is not the first headline-grabbing effort by a school to recruit a star player, and it certainly won't be the last. Soon enough, stories like this won't be surprising, and it will be the programs that don't conform to this wacky, wild world that will be seen as strange.

The Wildcats receive a seven out of 10 on the newly minted Bleacher Report recruiting hype meter for this attempt.

Full points awarded to the poor postal service worker who had to load 182 pieces of mail into Elam's mailbox.

Now that's swag.