Who’s next after Jasper Johnson commits? as they set to land with another top-class player with good energy
Thursday was massive for the Kentucky Wildcats as they landed a commitment from Jasper Johnson, a 5-star in-state combo guard ranked No. 12 in the 2025 recruiting class.
With both Johnson and fellow classmate Malachi Moreno (4-star, in-state big man ranked No. 25 in the 2025 class) on board for next season, Pope is clearly focused on the bluegrass when it comes to building his team.
In addition to those two, Pope and his staff have offers out to 11 other “warm” prospects.
For the 2025 guards, Kentucky is interested in Mikel Brown Jr. (No. 8, point guard), Braylon Mullins (No. 23, shooting guard), Cayden Boozer (No. 19, shooting guard) and Acaden Lewis (No. 33, combo guard).
At forward, Kentucky is interested in Caleb Wilson (No. 6, power forward), Cameron Boozer (No. 2, power forward), Koa Peat (No. 5, power forward), Niko Bundalo (No. 24, power forward) and Tounde Yessoufou (No. 27, power forward).
Finally, you have Chris Cenac (No. 14, center) to round out the group of “warm” prospects.
While those rankings are via 247 Sports, it’s important to note On3 has Kentucky currently in the No. 1 spot for their 2025 recruiting class after landing Johnson and Moreno. 247 Sports has Kentucky currently at No. 2 behind only Iowa State. On3 has it ranked first overall.
The Wildcats have the following visits lined up over the next two months.
Pope and his staff have clearly proved they have what it takes to compete when it comes to the transfer portal and now high school recruiting. Now we’ll see who they can land next.
The major question when Mark Pope took the Kentucky job back in April is whether he would be able to attract top talent to Lexington.
Five months later, UK is the only school with a pair of top-25 commitments in 4-star center Malachi Moreno, and 5-star shooting guard Jasper Johnson, who picked the Wildcats over Alabama, Arkansas, Louisville and North Carolina on Thursday, moving its 2025 recruiting class to No. 2 in the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings.
Now, Kentucky is one step closer to landing another one of its top recruiting targets in 2025 as Santa Maria (Calif.) St. Joseph 5-star forward Tounde Yessoufou announced his top six schools.
The 6-5, 211-pound forward, who is ranked No. 20 overall in the 2025 class by the industry average 247Sports Composite, is now down to Arizona State, Baylor, UConn, Kansas, Kentucky, and USC, eliminating Arizona, Tennessee, UCLA, and Washington. The Volunteers had been thought to be among the top contenders. Yessoufou had also taken an official visit to Arizona and had scheduled trips to both Washington and UCLA as well.
Yessoufou has already taken official visits to USC and Baylor and will visit Arizona State this weekend before heading to UConn (Sept. 20), Kansas (Oct. 4) and Kentucky (Oct. 11) for Big Blue Madness.
