Mark Pope welcomes Collin Chandler back from two-year mission in person

It seems like Mark Pope hasn’t taken a moment off, stopped to breathe, or come back from the recruiting trail yet since taking the head coaching job at Kentucky. That includes his latest trip, a return for him to the state of Utah, to welcome the return of one his upcoming players for next season.

Collin Chandler, a former commit to Pope at BYU, spent the last two years on a religious mission overseas. Chandler had since committed to follow Pope to Lexington upon him changing jobs from the Cougars to the Wildcats. Then, upon his return on Thursday in Salt Lake City, who was there to welcome him at the airport than Pope himself along with Cody Fueger, an assistant on the team’s new staff.

Chandler is a native of Farmington, Utah just outside Salt Lake City. He was a four-star prospect and the No. 36 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle. That’s according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He also rated as the No. 6 CG and the top player from his state.

However, while he signed with BYU back in November of 2021, he never played a second for the Cougars. After his graduation, he left for Sierra Leone as well as some time in London to complete missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been overseas doing that since July of 2022.

Chandler became the first new addition to Kentucky’s first roster under Pope a few days after his introduction as the next head coach of the program. Kentucky then made the announcement of him joining the team the following week.

“Collin Chandler is one of the most talented high school players in the country,” Pope said in the press release. “Collin is the definition of a servant leader. He, on his own desire and expense, chose to leave basketball and his life to go and serve people in Africa and Europe for two years. It won’t take long for every Kentucky fan to feel his heart and his love for others. I absolutely cannot wait to coach a man and player like him.”

“Growing up, my biggest dream was to play against the best players in the world,” Chandler said upon his commitment. “I am beyond grateful to be given the opportunity to do just that. Through the past couple of days, the path I had before envisioned has been blurred. After talking with my family and many prayers, this vision has become clearer than ever. I am humbled to get the opportunity to continue this journey at the University of Kentucky.”

When Chandler’s news came, the only other prospect for the roster was a four-star, in-state talent in Travis Perry. Now, in the two weeks since, Kentucky has added seven transfers to bring them to a total of nine players. Four will join the backcourt in San Diego State’s Lamont Butler, Oklahoma’s Otega Oweh, Dayton’s Koby Brea, and West Virginia’s Kerr Kriisa. Three more will go down low in Drexel’s Amari Williams, Wake Forest’s Andrew Carr, and Oklahoma State’s Brandon Garrison.

Pope has been on the move nonstop for a month now trying to put together his new program piece by piece. That included this journey back to Utah to welcome home one of his freshman as he came back stateside.