Skip to main content

Trae Young's father: "There was no way (Trae) was not going to Kentucky"

by:Jack Pilgrim12/08/17

Getty Images

Every year, there is an elite recruit that is deemed a “lock” to end up at Kentucky. A lot of times, there are two or three. In fact, all three of UK’s 2018 signees were all Wildcat locks almost immediately after receiving their respective scholarship offers.

For last year’s recruiting class, five-star guard Trae Young was just about as guaranteed to end up at Kentucky as anyone we’ve seen in the Calipari era.

In interviews, he raved about the program and the coaching staff. Most recruiting analysts had him penciled in as UK’s starting point guard for this season without thinking twice. It just made too much sense.

There were rumors Coach Cal was willing to accept his commitment at any time for several months, but Young never pulled the trigger. Eventually, Quade Green earned a scholarship from Kentucky and developed massive interest in the program, and the first to commit got the roster spot.

Several top recruits were outspoken about wanting to play with Green, as he was seen as a leader and a better floor general than anyone in the country. Young, on the other hand, was seen as a ball-dominant volume shooter, and it has since been confirmed that recruits did not want to play with him for that reason. Calipari put the full-court press on Green to commit, and he finally did. Young eventually landed at Oklahoma, where he could be the No. 1 option and put up as many shots a game as he could ever dream of.

In an interview with Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, Ray Young, Trae’s father, confirmed the talented scorer was just about guaranteed to end up at UK, but “things didn’t work out.”

“He was going to Kentucky or Kansas,” Ray Young said. “It wasn’t even that big of a debate for a while. Once he got the offer from Kentucky, it’s like, ‘Dad, Coach (John) Calipari just left our house.’ I would never say it was a done deal because we really liked Coach (Bill) Self a lot, and being around the coaches at Oklahoma and Coach Kruger, but there was no way he was not going to go to Kentucky, for about six or eight months. That’s the thing people don’t understand. He really wanted to go there but things didn’t work out.”

There were recruiting whispers that Young wanted to play with five-star talent Michael Porter Jr., with some saying they were the ever-popular “package deal.” Porter, however, eventually committed to Washington, a school Young had little interest in. From there, Young-to-Kentucky was full speed ahead.

“Michael Porter was never going to Kentucky,” Ray Young said. “For the longest time Trae and Mike wanted to play together. When Michael Porter Sr. got the job at Washington, we strongly considered Kentucky. Things changed, we started watching both teams (Kentucky and Kansas) and looking at things a bit differently.”

Norlander also interviewed Trae Young about his decision, who simply said if UK was the place that made him the most comfortable, he would be a Wildcat.

“When you go to the next level you want to feel comfortable,” Young said. “If going to Kentucky was best for me, I would’ve done that.”

Funny how things change.

Seeing plays like this, I think I’m just fine with Kentucky’s roster situation.

https://twitter.com/Sam_Vecenie/status/935940693523963904

I like my team.

Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2025-01-17