Kentucky to host Drexel transfer Amari Williams, a three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year

Mark Pope hasn’t even been officially introduced to the Big Blue Nation, and yet he’s already setting up recruiting visits.

On Sunday afternoon, On3’s Joe Tipton reported that Drexel transfer forward Amari Williams will take an official visit to Kentucky on April 21-22. The 6-foot-10, 265-pound Williams is a three-time Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year (2022, 2023, 2024) and was tabbed First Team All-CAA in 2023-24.

A native of Nottingham, England, Williams averaged 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.8 blocks in 22.9 minutes per game as a senior for Drexel this past season. He shot 51.7 percent from the field and 65.5 percent from the free-throw line.

He is considered the 18th-best available player in the On3 Industry Transfer Portal Rankings and will have one year of eligibility remaining as a graduate transfer.

Kentucky and new head coach Mark Pope will host Drexel transfer 6’10 F/C Amari Williams (@amxriwillixms) for an official visit on April 21-22, his agent @georgelangberg of GSL Sports Group tells @On3Sports. https://t.co/aCBq6cgKRU pic.twitter.com/8QdsLDHlYK

— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 14, 2024

Prior to moving across the pond to the United States, Williams was a member of Great Britain’s U20, U18 and U16 teams. After graduating from Myerscough College in Preston, England, he arrived at Drexel as a freshman in 2020-21. He came off the bench in 15 games and saw minimal playing time, but was part of the Dragons’ 2021 Colonial Athletic Association championship squad.

Williams took a leap as a sophomore, averaging 9.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and two blocks (a league-high) in 20.6 minutes per contest during the 2021-22 season. He won the first of three CAA Defensive Player of the Year awards, was tabbed a Third Team All-CAA selection, and also made the CAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll.

His junior year in 2022-23 is when Williams began to emerge as one of the conference’s top bigs. Another CAA Defensive Player of the Year award went his way and he even cracked First Team All-CAA. He led the conference in blocked shots (67) and field goal percentage (52.3). Williams started all 30 games for Drexel, averaging 13.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.4 steals, and 2.2 blocks in 27.4 minutes per game.

Williams didn’t skip a beat as a senior either, winning his third consecutive CAA Defensive Player of the Year award while making All-CAA First Team once again. But Drexel lost in the first round of the CAA Tournament to Stony Brook and failed to make the NCAA Tournament. Once Williams entered his name into the transfer portal on March 18, plenty of big-name programs began to look into him.

In fact, Williams will take visits to Indiana (April 19-20) and Creighton (April 20-21) this coming week. Before that, he’ll first take a trip to St. John’s on Monday and Tuesday. A previously scheduled trip to Florida was set for April 21-22, but that has since been replaced with Kentucky.