Mark Pope and 3 Kentucky assistants visited 5-star Caleb Wilson this morning
New Kentucky head coach Mark Pope is making a significant push for one of the nation’s top recruits.
Over the last couple of months, Pope and his staff have placed extra attention on five-star power forward Caleb Wilson. It appeared to take a while for Kentucky to jump all-in with Wilson, but once they did, it’s been full steam ahead ever since. That was made even more clear on Wednesday morning when Trent Markwith of Relentless Hoops reported that Pope and three assistants popped into Holy Innocents (GA) to watch the 6-foot-9 big man workout.
Markwith added that Arkansas’ John Calipari, Oregon’s Dana Altman, and Georgia Tech’s Damon Stoudamire were also in attendance for the workout. But those three head coaches only brought one assistant — Pope brought three.
Kentucky coaches will make another stop in Georgia today too. A couple of assistants are expected to visit five-star guard Jasper Johnson at Overtime Elite in Atlanta ahead of his decision on Thursday. UK is the perceived favorite to land Johnson.
Wilson, ranked No. 4 overall in the class of 2025 by the On3 Industry Ranking, cut his list of top schools down to 12 in late July. Along with Kentucky, the likes of Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee, Central Florida, and Southern California cracked the group of finalists. Wilson also scheduled an official visit to UK, which will take place the weekend of September 13 when the football team hosts top-ranked Georgia.
That won’t be the first time in Lexington for Wilson either, who officially visited the school when Calipari was still head coach. So he’ll already be familiar with the environment, leaving himself to focus on getting to know the new staff better. That being said, Calipari’s previous relationship with Wilson has Arkansas in a good position to secure his commitment down the road.
Luckily, there is still plenty of time for Kentucky to catch up.
So far, Wilson has taken official visits to Auburn, North Carolina, and Kentucky under the previous regime. Before making a return trip to Lexington next weekend, he’ll first officially visit Alabama this weekend. The longer this recruitment goes, the better chance the ‘Cats will have.
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