A four-star forward is taking a late recruiting visit to Kentucky basketball
There’s a new name to know when it comes to Kentucky basketball’s recruiting efforts with the current high school senior class.
On Wednesday, former West Virginia signee Braydon Hawthorne will be on campus in Lexington for a recruiting visit to check out Mark Pope and the Wildcats.
Hawthorne, a 6-foot-8 small forward from West Virginia, is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as a four-star recruit. He arrived in Lexington on Tuesday night to begin his visit to UK.
Hawthorne was previously signed to play at home-state West Virginia, but those plans changed when former Mountaineers head coach Darian DeVries left to become the head coach at Indiana.
DeVries and the Hoosiers just won a recruiting battle against the Wildcats for highly touted transfer portal guard Lamar Wilkerson, a former standout at Sam Houston who committed to IU over UK on Tuesday afternoon.
Hawthorne, who is ranked as the No. 106 overall prospect in the 2025 high school class, decommitted from West Virginia and reopened his recruitment after DeVries left his post.
Since that decommitment, Hawthorne has received renewed recruiting interest from West Virginia’s new coaching staff, as well as from Kentucky, Michigan and Virginia Tech.
Hawthorne was one of the biggest risers in the 247Sports high school recruiting rankings this season.
What does Kentucky basketball’s 2025-26 roster look like?
While Kentucky basketball’s 2025-26 roster is nearly complete, there’s still space for Hawthorne on it.
Currently, UK projects to have 12 scholarship players in place for next season.
This group includes five expected returnees from last season’s UK squad. Those players are freshmen guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, freshman forward Trent Noah, sophomore center Brandon Garrison and junior guard Otega Oweh.
Garrison announced Saturday night that he’ll be back at Kentucky next season. On Tuesday night, Oweh declared for the 2025 NBA draft while keeping open his option to return to Kentucky for his senior college season.
Kentucky has already announced the additions of four players from the transfer portal this spring. Those future Cats are sophomore forward Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), sophomore guard Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), freshman big man Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State) and freshman wing Kam Williams (Tulane).
Despite a recent decommitment from high school recruit Acaden Lewis, Kentucky will still be bringing in at least three first-year college basketball players next season. Two of these players — guard Jasper Johnson and in-state center Malachi Moreno — will arrive via the traditional high school recruiting pathway.
Johnson is a left-handed guard and the No. 18 national recruit in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Moreno was a McDonald’s All-American and Sweet 16 state champion this year.
UK recently got a commitment from Andrija Jelavic, a soon-to-be 21-year-old big man from Croatia. The 6-foot-11 Jelavic has played the last two seasons for Mega MIS, also known as Kosarkaski klub Mega Basket and Mega Superbet, a professional team based in Serbia.
In addition to Hawthorne, Kentucky is also still involved in the recruitment of high school senior Nate Ament, a five-star power forward from Virginia. Ament is down to five schools in his college recruitment: Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and Tennessee.
