Malachi Moreno reveals his top recruiting targets to join him at Kentucky

Malachi Moreno said he wanted to become “the best recruiter in the country” following his commitment to Kentucky. If he was going to stay home and suit up in blue and white as the No. 1 center in the country, he wanted elite talent to join him.

His first target? Jasper Johnson, telling the five-star guard at his ceremony, “You know where home is.” He was committed a few short weeks later, giving the Wildcats two top-25 pledges in the class of 2025.

“The vision is just getting guys that believe in the system and believe in winning championships,” Moreno told KSR of his recruiting pitch. It worked with Johnson. Now, he’s got a few other targets in mind to join the in-state duo in Lexington.

Among them?

“I would definitely say Braylon Mullins, that’s my guy. Been on the same AAU team for four years and wouldn’t want to see him anywhere else,” Moreno told KSR on this week’s edition of the Sources Say Podcast. “I’ve been working on Acaden Lewis, and then some of the other guys the coaches like. If they ask me to talk to them, I’ll give them a holler.”

Mullins is rated as the No. 26 overall prospect and No. 7 shooting guard in the On3 Industry Ranking while Lewis comes in at No. 36 overall and No. 5 among point guards. Moreno is a longtime friend and AAU teammate of the former while his relationship is building with the latter after seeing him at a couple of events this summer. Kentucky is in the running for both, momentum picking up with Lewis while potentially falling a bit with Mullins.

He would still like both to join him in Lexington.

“Acaden is a true point guard who can really score at all three levels, can really pass. He’s a tough, hard-nosed guard,” Moreno told KSR. “Every camp I’ve been to with him, he’s always gotten better. He doesn’t back down from anything. And he’s ambidextrous, so I think that’s pretty neat, too.”

“There are not enough words to describe Braylon. That’s my best friend, the best shooter in the country,” he added of Mullins. “He’s always getting better. There isn’t much other people can do that he can’t do. He does things you would think are out of the box — a fadeaway three from the corner, and it’ll be in the bottom of the net. You know what I mean? It’s just one of those things where I wouldn’t want him to play anywhere else. I want him to stick with me because we’ve prospered playing together so why wouldn’t we keep going?”

Is it likely the Wildcats add both to go with Johnson in the backcourt? Maybe not, but Moreno sees the fit if his top targets decide to join him at Kentucky.

“Yes (there is a fit), because the way Mark Pope’s offense works is in transition, he likes to shoot a lot of threes,” he told KSR. “And in my opinion, those are three of the best shooters in the country. I think that really helps make their decisions a little easier.”

One way or another, Moreno is confident Kentucky will put together an elite recruiting class under Coach Pope — an early knock on his hire considering the limited sample size of blue-chip talent brought in at BYU.

Being in a recruit’s shoes hearing Pope’s pitch, why does he believe the first-year coach will continue to find success on that front?

“He knows what he wants and he works really hard for it. That was also a separator (for me),” Moreno said. “He really sticks to his word and really, really, really works hard at getting people better.”

Will Lewis and Mullins join the 7-foot center in Lexington? He’s doing his part to try.