‘He’s like a proud dad.’ Five-star recruit set to visit Mark Pope, UK basketball
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- Kentucky basketball is recruiting five-star power forward Christian Collins.
- Collins is a top prospect in the 2026 college basketball recruiting class.
- Collins will be taking a recruiting visit to the UK basketball program in October.
With the summer basketball grassroots season now in the rearview mirror, the nation’s top college basketball prospects are easing their way into the next stage of their recruitments.
Scholarship offers have been collected. Relationships have been established with college coaches. Now, it’s time for official visits to be scheduled.
The bulk of official recruiting trips for college basketball prospects take place in the fall, often coinciding with football games, preseason basketball events or other noteworthy gatherings on college campuses.
Mark Pope and the Kentucky program are slowly filling up their fall schedule with recruiting visits from class of 2026 prospects, and five-star recruit Christian Collins will be one of them.
Collins, a five-star power forward from California, is set to visit the Wildcats on Oct. 12. A 6-foot-8 frontcourt player, Collins is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 4 national recruit in the 2026 class.
Collins is one of 17 uncommitted prospects in the 2026 recruiting class with a Kentucky scholarship offer, and he was a focal point of UK’s recruiting endeavors last week at Peach Jam, the season-ending Nike Elite Youth Basketball League tournament that’s held in North Augusta, South Carolina.
Pope, along with associate head coach Alvin Brooks III and assistant coach Jason Hart, were at Peach Jam to watch Collins in action with his Team Why Not squad.
“I’m extremely versatile. I can do whatever the coach wants me to do on the floor,” Collins, who offers an engaging and energetic presence, told the Herald-Leader at Peach Jam. “(If) they want me to bring the ball up, they want me to spot up and shoot. Sit in the post. I can guard one through five. Whatever the coach needs me to do basically.”
Hart is the lead recruiter for Collins. This is a natural fit considering that Hart has longstanding basketball ties in southern California. Hart began his fruitful basketball career as a prep star in Inglewood and Collins plays his prep basketball at St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower. Both cities are close to Los Angeles proper.
“He’s a real great guy,” Collins said of Hart, who is about to begin his second season as an assistant to Pope at Kentucky.
“… I’ve known him since I think my freshman year, I used to play with his son … He’s a great guy. I talk to him all the time. He called me the other day actually. I missed his call, so I’ve got to give him a call back.”
It’s unclear whether Collins has returned Hart’s call yet, but the top-shelf recruit also had plenty to say about Pope as part of his UK recruitment.
“Also Mark Pope, he’s a great guy as well,” Collins said.
“... He’s like a proud dad, but yeah, he’s cool,” added Collins, who was coached by Pope earlier this summer as part of a USA Basketball training camp in Colorado that also featured incoming UK freshmen Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno.
Kentucky will have plenty of interest in how St. John Bosco performs this coming high school season. A trio of top-10 prospects in the 2026 class with UK offers — Collins, guard Brandon McCoy and small forward Tajh Ariza — will all suit up for St. John Bosco this coming season.
But with a visit to UK already on the schedule for October, it’s clear that things are developing well between Collins and the Cats.
Christian Collins talks about Kentucky, college basketball recruitment
Collins, who began playing basketball as a guard before growing into his now 6-foot-8 frame, offers a blend of perimeter and post skills on the floor.
His stats across seven games at Peach Jam are evidence of this: Collins averaged 12.0 points and 9.7 rebounds at Peach Jam, while shooting 79.2% from the foul line and averaging more than a steal per game.
This blend of skills on the interior and exterior, specifically on the offensive end, gives Collins a distinct profile with the 2026 recruiting class.
Playing the “2” or the “3” at the college level is a realistic possibility for Collins, which is something that should excite college coaches given Collins’ reputation as one of the best rebounders in the rising high school senior class.
“I just know there’s going to be some big dudes in college that’s in the paint, so I know I can’t be fighting with them all the time,” Collins explained. “I’m extremely fast for my height so I can beat them off the dribble. I can shoot as well. But if I have to play the post, like I said, I’ll do it.”
Ideally, Collins would like to find himself at a school that runs an offense suited to his game, something like a four-out, one-in, or a five-out spread offense.
In the interim, though, Collins’ goals as a senior at St. John Bosco will be to get to the midrange more, to come off screens more effectively and to become more consistent with his jump shot.
Another big point of emphasis for him? To better handle the expectations and pressure that come with having a five-star ranking beside his name.
Collins is now considered a top-five prospect in the 2026 recruiting class, but that’s a far cry from what his outlook as a recruit was only recently. Collins’ progression as a prep player has included beginning on the junior varsity team and undergoing a knee surgery before exploding onto the scene and soaring up the rankings.
“I’ll be honest, I felt a lot of pressure (last season) being ranked so high. I had a lot of pressure because then everybody started coming at me … I’d get hit with elbows and no one would see it, or pushed on the ground or (people) calling me ‘soft’ and this and that. ‘You don’t deserve the ranking.’ I heard it all,” Collins said. “… I’m just starting to figure it out, how to deal with it and being mentally there. It got better. It happened so fast, it literally happened in like eight months … But I’m used to it now.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 6:40 AM.
