Shaedon Sharpe arrives in Lexington, participates in first workout

Shaedon Sharpe has arrived in Lexington and has begun working out as a member of the Kentucky basketball team.

John Calipari announced this evening that the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect is now on campus and participated in his first individual workout as a Wildcat on Wednesday. The next step will be incorporating him into live practices.

“Well, he worked out today on — you know, individual workouts,” Calipari said during his weekly call-in radio show. “We’ll bring him along slowly. I want him in practice, I want to see him fly up and down the court and play that way, have that mentality. It takes time to teach it. I want to see, can he make shots when he’s playing that fast? All that stuff.”

What does that mean for Sharpe’s status for the season? Will the five-star guard signee suit up for the Wildcats in a game this year? Calipari says it’s way too early to know either way.

As of now, he’s not quite ready.

“He’s not ready to be playing in games yet,” Calipari added. “He just got on campus a couple of days ago. Mom and dad were here with them and they went back. But he’s a great kid.”

His playing status remains up in the air. One thing that is for certain, though, is that Sharpe has grown since Calipari last saw him, up from his previously listed height of 6-foot-5.

“He looks like he grew,” Calipari said. He looks like he’s about 6-6.”

The initial plan was for Sharpe to redshirt this season, practicing with the team and working on his body to prepare for 2022-23. If Calipari thinks he’s ready to play now, though, the five-star guard will be ready for the moment.

“His mindset is just to go there and get ready. If Coach (Cal) says, ‘I need you to play,’ he’s going to play,” Sharpe’s coach and mentor Dwayne Washington told KSR in November. “He’s not going out there to play, he’s going out there to practice. But that can change at any moment.”

Sharpe is rated as the No. 1 overall prospect and No. 1 shooting guard in the 2022 On3 Player Rankings. He committed to Kentucky back on September 7, choosing the Wildcats over Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma State and the G League Ignite.

Now, the standout recruit is officially a freshman at UK.