Four-star forward Braydon Hawthorne committed to Kentucky on Tuesday, giving coach Mark Pope a late addition to his 2025 recruiting class. Hawthorne, the No. 33 overall player in the 2025 class by 247Sports, committed to the Wildcats over Duke, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Pittsburgh.
Hawthorne was the highest-ranked available player in the 2025 recruiting class and the only top-40 recruit left on the board. The Huntington, West Virginia, native previously signed his letter of intent with West Virginia before backing off his pledge earlier this spring after coach Darian DeVries departed Morgantown for Indiana.
Hawthorne is the fourth member of Kentucky’s 2025 recruiting class, joining four-star guard Jasper Johnson, four-star center Malachi Moreno and Croatian forward Andrija Jelavić, one of the top European prospects in his age group.
With Hawthorne’s late pledge, the Wildcats now have the 11th-ranked recruiting class in the 2025 cycle.
While Kentucky made key additions via high school recruiting this offseason, Pope primarily rebuilt his roster with transfer portal additions, headlined by former five-star and one-time Kentucky commit Jayden Quaintance. The Wildcats have the No. 4 ranked transfer portal class in the 247Sports rankings behind only St. John’s, Michigan and Louisville.
With Pope securing a late win on the high school recruiting trail, here is an overview of Kentucky’s offseason and what might be next.
Assessing Kentucky’s offseason
As mentioned above, the Wildcats were aggressive in the transfer portal to reshape their roster heading into the second year of Pope’s tenure at his alma mater. Hawthorne is the latest addition to a nice offseason overhaul for the Wildcats. Kentucky signed six players in the transfer portal this offseason: Quaintance (Arizona State), Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), Jaland Lowe (Pitt), Kam Williams (Tulane) and Reece Potter from Miami (Ohio).
Quaintance is the player who can swing everything for Kentucky. The projected top-five pick in the 2026 NBA Draft underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee on March 19 and is expected to be cleared for contact in September. Quaintance was previously committed to Kentucky under the previous coaching staff before signing with Arizona State after John Calipari left to become the coach at Arkansas.
Kentucky has been able to capitalize on its momentum after reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019 in Pope’s first season on the job. Pope’s rosters moving forward — and starting this season — will be more talented and capable of making deeper runs in the NCAA Tournament.
A big talking point has been Kentucky’s offseason additions, but Pope has managed to retain some of last season’s talent. Big man Brandon Garrison, guard Collin Chandler and forward Trent Noah are all set to return after playing key minutes off the bench during the 2024-25 season.
The most notable player on last year’s roster that hasn’t decided on a next step is star guard Otega Oweh. Kentucky’s leading scorer from last season is still going through the draft process. Kentucky should have a decision sooner rather than later about Oweh’s plans, as the deadline to withdraw from the 2025 NBA Draft is May 28.
If Oweh, a projected second-round pick, does return to college for another season, he could be a potential SEC Player of the Year candidate.
This news was originally published on this post .
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