Rising Bluegrass Stars: Offense

Over the past few seasons, The Bluegrass State has seen as much, if not more, talent graduate than usual. The 2024 class saw two players head to DI colleges in St. Xavier defenseman Ryder John (Towson) and Trinity faceoff man Canton Lanham (Detroit Mercy). Following this most recent 2025 season, the Commonwealth sends six players to the DI level. Trinity LSM Sam Alexander and midfielder Logan Bryant are heading to Jacksonville and Fairfield, respectively. St. Xavier sends midfielder Thomas Andriole to Marquette while SSDM Devin Ryan stays home and plays for the Bellarmine Knights. Collegiate goalie Andrew Hoffman joins Ryan at Bellarmine and the duo give Andy Whitley three homegrown players on his roster as they join LSM and 2023 St. Xavier graduate Jackson Campisano. South Oldham faceoff man Owen Rupp heads east to play for Mount St. Mary's.   With so much top-end talent having graduated this spring and over the past few years, in general, Kentucky high school lacrosse will have some new main faces next spring and over the coming few seasons. Rising senior St. Xavier attackman Kaiden Sullivan is currently the only 2026 player in the state committed to a DI school, having given his verbal to the hometown Bellarmine. For the 2027s, who were sophomores this past spring, the recruiting process begins in two months on September 1st.   Here is a look at those underclassmen who shined this past spring and could very well be some of the headlining stars of the game next season, and in some cases for the next few seasons. We start on the offensive end.    There is, perhaps, no 2027 player in the state of Kentucky who I've written more about over the past few seasons than Greyson Hodge. And that's for good reason. Coming off a sophomore campaign in which he helped lead Woodford County to the final four, Hodge is a well-known commodity across the Commonwealth. While not the biggest, he is a quick and agile offensive threat who gives defenses fits. Hodge works very well from behind the cage and on the wings, knowing how to beat his man and get open looks on cage. Over the past season, he especially grew as a feeder and has taken to being more of a field general than a one-man wrecking crew.   As a sophomore in 2025, Hodge notched 121 points off 67 goals and 54 assists. He ended the season as the state leader in points.     While not completely off the radar entering the season, Thayer is a player who I did not have my eye on as close as I should have when play began. He made a splash early in the year, putting up six and five points consecutive losses to open the year, and never looked back. By season's end, Thayer had proved himself to be one of the most dominant players in Kentucky in his class. Constantly showing his versatility as a scorer who could attack from anywhere, he ended the year with 92 points off 55 goals and 37 assists.     Coming out of the regular season rivalry meeting with Trinity and entering the month of April, Townsend had tallied nine points and six goals through six games. From the beginning of that second month of the season onward, however, Townsend could be seen elevating his game. Playing with good awareness and possessing the ability to impact the game in multiple ways on offense, he was often at his best when playing off-ball. Townsend ended the season with 36 points off 25 goals and 11 assists.     As a sophomore in 2025, Norrenbrock earned a starting spot and produced as a top-three scorers for a Trinity Shamrocks squad that won a state championship. His season as an individual mirrored that of the Trinity offense as a whole as Norrenbrock developed well and settled in as the year went along. He ended the spring with 41 points off 29 goals and 12 assists. The 2027 talent especially impressed with his off-ball ability as he showed a good amount of IQ with his ability to fill spaces and always find areas where he could get his hands free.     Ray is the most multi-faceted player on this list. He is coming off a very strong sophomore campaign with Lexington Christian where he was arguably the most impactful player on the field for the Eagles. He has made his mark as both a natural goal-scoring midfielder and a consistent winner at the faceoff dot. Ray posted 90 points off 53 goals and 37 assists. At the dot, he went 64% (74-for-115).     Cantley essentially sat in the wings and behind his older brother, Lawson, for a couple of seasons. But this past spring, as a junior, the younger Cantley arrived as the leader for the KCD Bearcats' offense. He ended the season with 46 goals and 20 assists for 66 points.

Over the past few seasons, The Bluegrass State has seen as much, if not more, talent graduate than usual. The 2024 class saw two players head to DI colleges in St. Xavier defenseman Ryder John (Towson) and Trinity faceoff man Canton Lanham (Detroit Mercy). Following this most recent 2025 season, the Commonwealth sends six players to the DI level. Trinity LSM Sam Alexander and midfielder Logan Bryant are heading to Jacksonville and Fairfield, respectively. St. Xavier sends midfielder Thomas Andriole to Marquette while SSDM Devin Ryan stays home and plays for the Bellarmine Knights. Collegiate goalie Andrew Hoffman joins Ryan at Bellarmine and the duo give Andy Whitley three homegrown players on his roster as they join LSM and 2023 St. Xavier graduate Jackson Campisano. South Oldham faceoff man Owen Rupp heads east to play for Mount St. Mary's.