Former Kentucky pledge Skyy Clark commits to Illinois

On3 image — Skyy Clark / Photo credit: Dan Fritz

Skyy Clark has found a new home, committing to Illinois over Louisville, Tennessee, USC, Maryland and Washington.

The former Kentucky pledge announced his commitment on ESPNU on Thursday just over one month after parting ways with the Wildcats.

Clark decommitted from Kentucky after struggling to see a roster fit with the program as a freshman. He first committed to UK back in October 2020.

“It was a lot of thinking and a lot of praying, but it has nothing to do with anything Coach Cal, the assistant coaches, or anything UK did,” Clark told KSR. “They’ve been nothing but supportive through this whole process. I just had a lot of time to sit around and think. Since watching the team and the way the roster is looking for next season, I haven’t really seen a fit for myself. …

“I just really wanted to step back and assess myself and my options and see if it was still the best situation for me. What I’ve learned is basketball is more than a game now, it’s a business. I just want to do what’s best for me going forward.”

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Clark is rated as the No. 32 overall prospect and No. 7 combo guard in the On3 Consensus. At the time of his commitment, Illinois had a 96.9% chance to land the four-star prospect in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM), the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. It factors in machine learning, expert prediction, social sentiment, visits, and historical trends.

Clark joins top-100 prospects Ty Rodgers, Jayden Epps and Sencire Harris in Illinois’ 2022 recruiting class. He immediately becomes the top-ranked pledge of the group.

As for Kentucky, the Wildcats have top-ten prospects Cason Wallace (No. 5) and Chris Livingston (No. 10) signed on for 2022, giving the program the No. 2 class in the On3 Team Recruiting Rankings. Five-star guard Shaedon Sharpe was previously ranked No. 1 in the senior class before joining the Kentucky program as a mid-year enrollee.

UK is going after one final five-star prospect in the class of 2022 in 6-foot-10 wing Leonard Miller, who comes in at No. 11 overall in the latest On3 Player Rankings.