Skyy Clark becomes first recruit to land Kentucky offer during COVID-19 shutdown
Even though college coaches haven’t been able to see him play basketball for months, five-star recruit Skyy Clark keeps racking up scholarship offers.
On Thursday night, he received his best news yet.
Clark — a 6-foot-2 combo guard in the 2022 class — picked up a scholarship offer from Kentucky during a conference call with John Calipari and the Wildcats’ coaching staff. The UK offer was seen as a formality — Clark has long been one of the Cats’ top targets in the ’22 class — but the timing was interesting nonetheless.
Calipari typically likes to see prospective recruits play as much as possible and get to know them and their families on a personal level before pulling the trigger on a scholarship offer, but the ongoing concerns over the spread of COVID-19 has greatly limited his ability to do that.
Clark, who grew up in Los Angeles but moved to Nashville this spring, is the first player to land a UK offer since the coronavirus pandemic forced the NCAA to shut down all in-person recruiting activities. That ban on recruiting will be in effect through the end of August — and, according to some in college basketball circles who have spoken to the Herald-Leader recently — could very well be extended through the end of the calendar year.
With the uncertainty over when college coaches will be permitted to watch recruits play in person — and host them for on-campus visits — the offer to Clark could be a signal of Calipari’s willingness to relax his own process for extending offers to UK targets.
Still, Clark is no stranger to Kentucky’s program.
UK assistant coach Joel Justus traveled to California to make first contact with Clark last year — before the start of his sophomore season — and the Wildcats have been in steady contact ever since, a process highlighted by the family’s visit to Lexington for the UK-Auburn game in late February.
“The way they gave him their attention — they took real time out to let him ask questions, they asked him questions and just filled him in on the history of Kentucky and what Kentucky is all about,” his father, Kenny Clark, said of the UK coaches. “Obviously, we went to the Auburn game. And that was lights out phenomenal. We sat literally right behind the bench, so we felt like we were in the game. It was a good thing for Skyy to see Coach Cal, hear Coach Cal’s interactions with the players, how the players work, and how things work on the bench and everything. He said he felt like he was a part of the game without stepping foot on the floor.”
Clark is the No. 18 overall player in the 2022 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He’s capable of playing both the point guard and shooting guard spots, and he and his father have both told the Herald-Leader that he would welcome sharing the backcourt with another talented point guard in college, specifically pointing to Calipari’s success with such lineups.
The UK scholarship offer was just the latest in a flurry of heightened interest. Even though recruiting has been shut down since March — with all major competitive events canceled — Clark has received new offers from North Carolina, Ohio State, Indiana, Tennessee, Oregon and several other high-major programs. Kansas, UCLA, Memphis, Michigan and Arizona were among the schools that had previously offered. Duke is also showing interest in his recruitment.
Clark is a candidate to reclassify to 2021 — meaning he would have just one more season of high school remaining — but his father says a decision on such a move is still a ways off. As a sophomore this past season, he averaged 25.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.5 steals per game.
It’s clear Clark will have his pick of colleges, but it’s going to be difficult for anyone to beat out Kentucky for his commitment. 247Sports national analyst Jerry Meyer has already logged a Crystal Ball prediction in favor of UK on Clark’s recruiting page, and the player and his father have been effusive in their praise for the Wildcats’ program.
The trip to Lexington earlier this year only elevated UK’s status in his recruitment.
“Oh, yeah, it’s all blue and white over there. And those fans are real fans,” Kenny Clark told the Herald-Leader. “They knew who Skyy was. Even walking through the game, through the arena and everything — they wanted to take pictures with him. They know Kentucky basketball. It was a great town.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 9:04 PM.
