4-star SF Tounde Yessoufou cuts list to six, removes SEC rival

Tounde Yessoufou, a major target for Kentucky head coach Mark Pope, is beginning to wind down his recruitment.

On Thursday night, On3’s Joe Tipton reported that Yessoufou is down to just six schools: Kentucky, Kansas, UConn, Baylor, Southern California, and Arizona State. The four-star wing was previously down to a top 10 but has since cut out Arizona, Tennessee, UCLA, and Washington. The Volunteers being removed from his finalists is notable, as it was previously thought they were among the two or three frontrunners.

That’s good news for Kentucky. The Wildcats, along with Baylor, are now the two schools being mentioned the most in this recruitment. Yessoufou has an official visit with UK set for Big Blue Madness next month.

NEWS: 2025 Top-15 recruit Tounde Yessoufou has cut his list down to six schools, he tells @On3Recruits.

Story: https://t.co/HDNEzh1bnb pic.twitter.com/hlsLMHmsYV

— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) September 5, 2024

Yessoufou, ranked No. 17 overall in the class of 2025 by the On3 Industry Ranking, has already completed two official visits this summer. He went to USC in June and just got back from a trip to Baylor over the weekend. In addition to his Kentucky official visit this fall, the St. Joseph High School (CA) product will also make stops at Arizona State (Sept. 7), UConn (Sept. 21), and Kansas (Oct. 5).

“Kentucky was my dream school when I came to the U.S., so I’m really looking forward to going, visiting, and building a relationship with the coaches,” Yessoufou, a native of West Africa, recently told Jacob Polacheck of KSR+.

The Wildcats are viewed as one of the top contenders to land Yessoufou’s commitment. Can they seal the deal with the physical wing? They’ll get that opportunity when they host him for Big Blue Madness in October. Kentucky currently has the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class after landing five-star SG Jasper Johnson on Thursday afternoon.