Kentucky Recruiting 2025

[Jumper_Dad]

UK received their first High School commitment for the class of 2025 today. Malachi Moreno the 7 footer out of Great Crossing High School chose the Wildcats out of his list of final 8 schools.

He's ranked 21st (On3) to 36th (ESPN) overall in the country.

[Bluto]

"Can Mark Pope recruit top talent?"

Moreno is ranked the #1 center in the country by some.

[MaddenCurse44]

Awesome! 

[MaddenCurse44]

Kinney was offered!

[UKato91]

I do like how Pope is going after some of the instate talent.   I think those guys will be more likely to stay.

[FrankNicodemus]

Jasper Johnson commits to Kentucky today!!!!

BOOM!!!!!

[Bluto]

2 of the top 30 players in the country. A 5* and a 4*.

Awesome!!

[TCR]

One to watch for is Nate Ament in Virginia, who plays for Highland High School. If Mark Pope can land him, that would really be something. Nate stands at 6'9 and exploded this summer. My first exposure to Nate was at the Neptune Tip Off Classic in Virginia Beach last year and one could see the potential within his frame. At the time he worked his way into the top 100 and was rapidly rising up the rankings. Nate can shoot the ball from NBA range and has incredible length, he still looks like he hasn't fully grown into his body and who knows, it's possible he may grow a little bit more. Nate has such a smooth shot and I think he would be a good fit to Coach Pope's system. For his size he also has the ability to slash to the basket and has long strides with a great wingspan.

Nate had a huge summer, one event in particular he stood out at was the DMV Live at DeMatha Catholic and Coach Pope was amongst a number of coaches that were there scouting him. One of his games at the event was a 40-20 game. The DMV Live has some of the top talent in the country. Nate increased his visibility to the point where he is now one of the top five players in his class, ranked #4 on ESPN.

[nikeman49]

Pope will keep all of the Ky talent right here at home!! The previous coach was not in touch with that talent!

[Tones]

 

A list of players from Kentucky recruited to power 5 schools:

2013 Derek Willis & Dominique Hawkins (both went to UK)

2014 Quentin Snyder (UofL)

2015 Ray Spalding (UofL), Aric Holman (Miss St.), Cam Justice (Vandy), James Boldin (WVU)

2016 Quentin Goodin (Xavier), Eli Wright (Miss St.)

2018 Jake Walter (Xavier), CJ Frederick (Iowa)

2019 David Johnson (Louisville), Kyky Tandy (Xavier), Dontaie Allen (UK), Dieonte Miles (Xavier)

2020 JJ Traynor (UofL), Justin Powell (Auburn)

2023 Reed Shepherd (UK)

On 9/30/2024 at 5:15 PM, nikeman49 said:

Pope will keep all of the Ky talent right here at home!! The previous coach was not in touch with that talent!

Which Kentucky talent that was not recruited to Kentucky would have made you happy?

[nikeman49]

1 hour ago, Tones said:

 

A list of players from Kentucky recruited to power 5 schools:

2013 Derek Willis & Dominique Hawkins (both went to UK)

2014 Quentin Snyder (UofL)

2015 Ray Spalding (UofL), Aric Holman (Miss St.), Cam Justice (Vandy), James Boldin (WVU)

2016 Quentin Goodin (Xavier), Eli Wright (Miss St.)

2018 Jake Walter (Xavier), CJ Frederick (Iowa)

2019 David Johnson (Louisville), Kyky Tandy (Xavier), Dontaie Allen (UK), Dieonte Miles (Xavier)

2020 JJ Traynor (UofL), Justin Powell (Auburn)

2023 Reed Shepherd (UK)

Which Kentucky talent that was not recruited to Kentucky would have made you happy?

I meant they will commit to Ky and not get away to another program.

[bugatti]

1 hour ago, Tones said:

 

A list of players from Kentucky recruited to power 5 schools:

2013 Derek Willis & Dominique Hawkins (both went to UK)

2014 Quentin Snyder (UofL)

2015 Ray Spalding (UofL), Aric Holman (Miss St.), Cam Justice (Vandy), James Boldin (WVU)

2016 Quentin Goodin (Xavier), Eli Wright (Miss St.)

2018 Jake Walter (Xavier), CJ Frederick (Iowa)

2019 David Johnson (Louisville), Kyky Tandy (Xavier), Dontaie Allen (UK), Dieonte Miles (Xavier)

2020 JJ Traynor (UofL), Justin Powell (Auburn)

2023 Reed Shepherd (UK)

Which Kentucky talent that was not recruited to Kentucky would have made you happy?

Also weighing it against what other Freshman or scholarship player you would replace it with. And of course, hindsight is always 20/20 with recruiting. "Oh, I never would have taken Skal Labissiere over Ray Spalding (not sure Spalding was ever interested in UK)." Well, Skal was the #2 recruit in the country. It is great to secure all the top recruits that can hold their own at UK, but that is a tall order with the lack of high-caliber prep depth.