Mark Pope Is Off to a Hot Start on the Recruiting Trail

Mark Pope knows Kentucky basketball, he knows what he has been, what it is, and what it can be and that is what he is selling to the recruits. There was concern about Mark Pope's recruiting abilities as he has never had the chance to prove it at the highest levels. However, Kentucky Wildcat fans should be feeling pretty happy with his hot start for the 2025 class. In fact, he's already digging into the 2026 and 2027 classes too.

Pope has been, as he should be, going after all the top players in the 2025 class. According to 24/7 Sports, he has offers for most of the top players. So, where do we stand with the 2025 class? Here's what I've gathered for next year's class.

Commits

Pope currently has two players committed for the 2025 class both are 5-star recruits and top 25 players in their class. Jasper Johnson who is a 6'4 guard and 6'11 center Malachi Moreno.

Strong Interest

The big news this week has been around the recruitment and visit of Caleb Wilson who is a top-10 player out of Georgia. He came to visit last weekend (Sept. 14) when the Kentucky almost upset Georgia. He posted about it on his twitter while he was visiting.

While he was at the Wildcats football game he got to meet and hang out with Kentucky alum and Olympic gold medalist, Masai Russell.

The Wilson recruitment gets more interesting as we tie some of the top targets and recruits together. Wilson spent his weekend dreaming of playing and attending Kentucky that he was hitting up other players on the top 100 that Pope is recruiting.

It may be hard to tell from that quick snapshot of the tweet but Wilson said to Acaden Lewis - "come on over bro" while on his visit to Kentucky. Lewis also said in the first snap on Instagram that he wanted to play with Wilson. Lewis also plays on the same summer ball team as current Wildcat commit, Jasper Johnson. Lewis is one of the top point guards in the 2025 class.

This isn't it though, there are other recruits that are linked to Kentucky and that Pope and his staff are clearly trying to get to come to UK. Mikel Brown has an in home visit lined up with assistant coach Jason Hart.

I also reported on the recruitment of the Boozer twins earlier this week. Those would be a huge get and seemingly a package deal for the Wildcats. Finally, there is one piece of news where Kentucky lost out on and it may be because of the recruitment of Wilson and possibly Cameron Boozer. Tounde Yessoufou has canceled his visit to Kentucky and narrowed his list down to three schools; Arizona State, Baylor, and USC.

Pope is doing some quick work in the 2025 class and making up for some lost time as many of these high profile names have been recruited by other schools for years. It seems as if Kentucky is going to be in the race for many of the top recruits in 2025.