Braydon Hawthorne has arrived for his official visit to Kentucky

Kentucky is hosting a top-50 high school recruit as we speak as 6-foot-8 wing Braydon Hawthorne, who decommitted from West Virginia following Darian DeVries’ move to Indiana, making his way to Lexington for an official visit.

He arrived late Tuesday evening, posting a picture from the home of the Wildcats on social media.

Hawthorne first set up a Zoom meeting with Kentucky to open the month of April with other contact from Michigan, Indiana, Kansas State, Arizona State, Marquette, Virginia, Oklahoma State and Dayton while also taking an unofficial visits to West Virginia and Virginia Tech. Michigan is also expected to get a visit.

A late bloomer who measures in at 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-3 wingspan, the four-star wing is expected to be a long-term development piece with serious upside.

“I’m going to be looking at player development and style of play,” Hawthorne told On3’s Jamie Shaw. “I am pretty versatile, so I can play in a lot of systems, but I have been comfortable playing with a spaced floor and playing freely in a system that shoots threes and where I can make decisions and create with the ball. I also want to play for someone who has had, and developed, guys like me.”

Rated as the No. 48 overall prospect in On3’s 2025 Rankigns, he originally committed to West Virginia over Georgetown, Ohio, Old Dominion and Mount St. Mary’s early in the process before reopening his recruitment in the spring.

Interestingly enough, Mark Pope got to see him in person during the Court XIV Classic back in February — Jasper Johnson‘s homecoming event at Woodford County High School. Johnson’s RWE team actually took on Huntington Prep in the matchup, Hawthorne competing against the future Wildcat and another top-25 prospect in 2026, Tay Kinney. Pope sat with fellow UK signee Malachi Moreno and current Wildcat Travis Perry on the baseline while watching Johnson put up 31 points en route to MVP honors, RWE pulling off the 71-70 win over Huntington Prep.

KSR was in attendance for the event with plenty to see from Hawthorne in the game highlights:

Little did anyone know at the time, the former West Virginia pledge would become a Kentucky target in the spring.

Will the full-circle moment lead to a commitment? That’s what this week’s visit is for, deciding the next steps to take in the four-star’s recruitment.