Chin Coleman says Kentucky's seven reported offers in 2024 aren't all real

Earlier this week, Johnuel “Boogie” Fland and Tahaad Pettiford became the sixth and seventh rising juniors to receive scholarship offers from the University of Kentucky — publicly, at least.

Overall, Fland and Pettiford join the likes of Ian Jackson, Tre Johnson, Isaiah Elohim, Karter Knox and Travis Perry to hold offers. According to Kentucky assistant coach Chin Coleman, though, not all reported offers are real offers.

The UK coaching staff has cast a wide net in the class of 2024, talking to dozens of different prospects across the country. Some, Coleman says, have mistaken contact and interest for committable offers. Seven players have reported scholarships from the Wildcats, but the Kentucky assistant says that number is inaccurate.

“Seven may be a multiplied number, I don’t think we’ve offered seven,” Coleman told the media on Thursday. “Sometimes if we’ve talked to a kid, a kid will say we’ve offered, and we may or may not have offered. I think that’s a multiplied number, but we have offered some in that class, just not that many.”

That’s not to say Kentucky’s recruiting efforts haven’t ramped up in 2024. More offers have been extended to rising juniors at this point than any other time in John Calipari’s time in Lexington. And beyond the offers, staff contact has been confirmed with over 20 prospects in the class. There’s no denying the approach is different.

But that doesn’t mean every reported offer is a real offer.

“(The number of offers) is a little abnormal for Coach Cal because he doesn’t normally offer kids that young,” said Coleman. “There are some he’s seen, and for Coach Cal, it’s about seeing them. If he’s seen them, and they fit us and check all the boxes for us, he may extend an offer to a younger kid. There have been a few that he’s seen. If he’s seen them and he’s checked those boxes, he may offer some, but seven is a multiplied number. That may be a little too many, but we’ll see.”

2024 four-star guard Amier Ali announced a scholarship offer from Kentucky back in April, two months before the direct contact period opened for rising juniors. It raised eyebrows at the time, especially considering Calipari has never offered a player his age that early. Respectfully, why would he start with a top-30 sophomore? It clearly fit the description of a miscommunication and his offer status was refuted rather quickly.

Beyond Ali, though, it’s clear Coleman has some names in mind regarding players who claim to hold offers from the Wildcats when that isn’t the case.

Any guesses?