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Feb 8, 2025; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope talks with guard Otega Oweh (00) during the second half against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Mark Pope will balance high school and transfer portal recruiting well at Kentucky

Originally posted on Kentucky Wildcats on SI
By Wyatt Huff | Last updated Aug 13, 2025 2:23 PM ET

College coaches are required to balance a lot of things in this day and age of NIL. Coaches not only have to balance NIL but also their rosters, too, and how they want to recruit. Many coaches have adapted to choose experience over youth, but a good amount are also taking advantage of a blend of young high school talent and valuable experience from the transfer portal.

That's exactly what Mark Pope is looking to do in his time at Kentucky. When looking at first year as the head coach in Lexington, Pope was essentially forced to build an entire roster from scratch through the transfer portal, bringing in two freshman, in-state talent Travis Perry and Trent Noah. The same essentially goes for Pope in year two, but he's using his year one mistakes to make adjustments in roster-building, adjusting those bright weaknesses last season's squad showed. Pope is also bringing in two freshman, Kentucky natives Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson.

Will Kentucky have more of a presence in high school recruiting and be more balanced moving forward? Things are looking promising, and here's why.

Pope is building strong relationships with high school recruits

Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Pope has done a great job since taking over as the head man at Kentucky at beginning to build relationships with many of the top recruits. He might not have had much leverage with the 2025 class at that aspect, but the future with Kentucky and the high school recruiting landscape is bright. Pope and his staff have been working extremely hard on the recruiting trail, casting a wide net of targets in the class, including being involved with nearly a dozen of the top 15 prospects in 2026.

A big question being asked when thinking about Pope and high school recruiting is, can he recruit players outside of Kentucky? He's putting that to the test in the 2026 class, as only two players Kentucky is involved with have Kentucky ties, Tyran Stokes and Tay Kinney. As for Stokes, he is the #1 player in the class, but would put that question to rest given his high sought-after status, but also given his recruitment is turning into a heated Kentucky-Louisville battle.

Stokes would be Pope's biggest get yet, and considering the Wildcats being in good shape with a number of other top targets in the class, that should have Kentucky fans excited for the future. With the 2027 class, Kentucky has already extended offers to top recruits like CJ Rosser, Obinna Ekezie Jr., Marcus Spears Jr., as well as being in contact with a slew of others early in their recruitments.

With how well Pope has already proven he can recruit the transfer portal, his trajectory with high school recruiting skyrocketing up should be extremely encouraging for the future of the Mark Pope era.

This article first appeared on Kentucky Wildcats on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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