Who Kentucky men's basketball is visiting on the recruiting trail

The fall recruiting period officially began on Friday, Sept. 9 and Kentucky head coach John Calipari is making his presence felt all across the country. The 63-year-old and his staff are hitting the recruiting trail with the energy of hungry up-and-comers. Calipari has already mapped out his path for the upcoming week following a busy weekend in the northeast.

To quickly recap the last few days, the Kentucky staff made its first stop in New Jersey to check up on the most important prospect left on the Big Board for the ‘Cats: five-star guard DJ Wagner. Calipari and company also made sure to watch Aaron Bradshaw as well, another five-star prospect who is a longtime teammate of Wagner’s. Kentucky is doing everything it can to close on both players.

Calipari also plans to check up on Kentucky’s trio of current ’23 commits: Justin Edwards (No. 3 overall, per On3 Consensus), Robert Dillingham (No. 8), and Reed Sheppard (No. 27).

A source tells KSR that both Calipari and assistant coach Orlando Antigua will travel to London, KY on Thursday to visit Sheppard and his family. The staff will also make a trip to Philadelphia soon to visit Edwards.

Wagner and Bradshaw are the top remaining ’23 targets for the ‘Cats, but there’s a third option that Calipari continues to push his chips all in for: five-star forward Ron Holland. KSR’s Jack Pilgrim reported on Friday that members of the Kentucky staff will be in to watch Holland on Monday.

Holland is out of Duncanville, TX, an area that new UK assistant KT Turner is very familiar with. In addition to Holland, the staff will spend a good amount of time in the Longhorn State this week.

Also on Monday, Kentucky will check in on a pair of Texans in five-star SG Tre Johnson and four-star SG Dink Pate, who are both based out of the Dallas area. Johnson is considered the top overall player in the class of 2024, per the On3 Consensus, and already holds an offer from the Wildcats. Pate, on the other hand, isn’t ranked nearly as high, landing at No. 52 overall among ’24 recruits by the On3 Consensus, but he’s been on UK’s radar since the early summer.

According to Rivals’ David Sisk, Calipari, along with assistants Chin Coleman and KT Turner, made the trip to Texas on Monday to watch all three recruits.

Another top-ranked ’24 recruit, Ian Jackson (arguably the top junior on Kentucky’s Big Board), expects to receive a visit from the ‘Cats, KSR’s Jack Pilgrim reports. Four-star talent Karter Knox (the younger brother of former Wildcat Kevin Knox) will also receive a visit from the staff, Jake Weingarten of Stockrisers reports. Both Jackson and Knox have publicly announced offers from UK.

Johnuel “Boogie” Fland, another ’24 recruit with a Kentucky offer, received a visit from Kentucky on Monday, Pro Insight’s Andrew Slater reports. Fland won a gold medal with the U17 USA men’s basketball program as a 15-year-old and was one of the top players on the Nike U16 circuit over the summer.

Sticking with the ’24 class, Kentucky is keeping tabs on several more of the top players. On3’s Joe Tipton reports that four-star PF Asa Newell (who played with Team USA over the summer) will receive a visit from Kentucky sometime this week. Florida and Georgia were in to watch Newell on Friday.

Also from Tipton, he reports that five-star PF Airious “Ace” Bailey will have UK and a slew of other programs watching him over the next few days. Auburn, Kansas, and Alabama are among the other big-name schools expected to stop by Bailey’s home in Georgia. Bailey is considered the No. 7 overall prospect in the On3 Consensus.

Additionally, four-star CG Dylan Harper, considered a top 20 prospect in the ’24 class, will have the likes of UK, UCLA, Duke, Indiana, Michigan, and Kansas in for open gyms soon, reports Pro Insight’s Andrew Slater. Harper is the son of five-time NBA champion Ron Harper and the younger brother of Ron Harper Jr., who is now with the NBA’s G League.

Backtracking a bit to the staff’s weekend in the northeast, Kentucky made sure to stop by Hudson Catholic in New Jersey. According to Pro Insight’s Andrew Slater, two UK coaches were in to watch a pair of Hudson stars: four-star ’24 PG Tahaad Pettiford (who holds an offer from the ‘Cats) and four-star ’23 CG Elijah Gertrude. Kentucky is high on Pettiford. As for Gertrude, he’s not nearly as high on the staff’s radar as the likes of Wagner, Bradshaw, and Holland are from the ’23 class.

Kentucky is also dipping its toes into the Overtime Elite Academy. Multiple reports indicate that the staff will check in on three impressive talents out of the OTE program. It’s important to note that while OTE is a professional route, the high school prospects currently signed are not receiving a salary, which keeps their college eligibility intact.

The three ’24 prospects expected to have Kentucky in the Atlanta-based gym on Tuesday are five-star SF Naasir Cunningham (No. 4 overall, per the On3 Consensus), five-star PF Jayden Williams (No. 9), and four-star SF Jahki Howard (No. 33). None of them have publicly announced offers from UK, but both Cunningham and Williams could be on the verge of earning one.

Moving on to the class of 2025, Kentucky is prioritizing one of the staff’s favorite prospects in soon-to-be five-star SG Darryn Peterson. The 6-foot-6 wing is the first high school sophomore to receive a legitimate scholarship from Kentucky during Calipari’s time in Lexington. Travis Graf of Rivals reports that Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA, Michigan State, among others, will watch Peterson “in the near future”.

Finally, we’ll end on the class of 2026, which has some potential stars lurking across the Bluegrass State. Trinity’s Jayden Johnson expects to receive a visit from Kentucky sometime this month, he tells KSR. Johnson is already considered the top freshman in the state and will be a hot commodity sooner rather than later. He also says that Indiana, Florida, Cincinnati, and Michigan will stop by. Missouri, Cincinnati, and West Virginia have already offered him.

Two more ’26 prospects will hear from Kentucky soon, too. NextUpRecruits reports that DeSales High School stars Jordan Bender and Sam Mbingazo will have the likes of UK, Michigan, Florida, and Indiana coming to watch them this month.