Who has the Kentucky staff visited since the recruiting period began?

The recruiting live period has ramped up since it began on Tuesday morning at midnight, where many coaches are out making in-home visits as well as attending practices and getting a closer look at many of their top targets. For Kentucky, head coach Mark Pope and a pair of assistants have been hot on the recruiting trail, making stops nearly all over the country lately.

Who has the Kentucky staff seen the last two days? Let's take a look.

1. Tay Kinney - #12 overall

The Kentucky staff started the recruiting period off visiting Tay Kinney for an in-home visit just as the clock struck midnight on Tuesday morning. Kinney is one of Kentucky's top point guard targets in the class, but recently, Kansas and Louisville have been receiving the most buzz. Kinney has already taken visits to both Kentucky and Louisville. He has upcoming visits set to Indiana, Miami, Oregon, Texas and Arkansas. Kinney just recently released his top 8 schools, which included Kentucky, Louisville, Arkansas, Indiana, Miami, Texas, Kansas and Oregon.

2. Deron Rippey Jr. - #18 overall

Kentucky conducted an in-home visit on Wednesday with Rippey Jr., who the Wildcats are in very good shape with. Mark Pope and the staff have really turned up the heat with one of their most prioritized targets and along with Kinney, is one of their top point guard targets. The 6-2 guard just recently completed an official visit to Miami, with others still on the docket, including Kentucky. has visits scheduled to North Carolina (Aug. 31), Alabama (Sept. 13), Texas (Sept. 19), Syracuse (Sept. 26), Kentucky (Oct. 3), Duke (Oct. 21), Tennessee (Oct. 25), and NC State (Nov. 7). Rippey also recently cut both Kansas and Indiana from his top 12 list.

3. Tyran Stokes - #1 overall

Kentucky also conducted a visit with Stokes on Thursday, who is their most prioritized target as the best player in the class. The momentum with Kentucky in this recruitment has only gone up since Peach Jam in mid-July. Louisville was seen as the frontrunner, but Kentucky quickly changed that and have not let their foot off the gas at all in this recruitment. Stokes has taken visits to Kentucky, Louisville and Kansas, with visits scheduled for Gonzaga, Oregon and USC, all of which should be completed before his high school season begins.

4. Baba Oladotun - #10 overall

Kentucky conducted an in-home visit with Baba Oladotun on Wednesday, who recently reclassified to 2026, who is now ranked as the #10 overall player in the class after being the top player in 2027. Oladotun is currently in the process of scheduling an unofficial visit to Kentucky. The 6-10 forward currently has official visits scheduled to Maryland (Sept. 6) and Virginia Tech (Sept. 13). This recruitment is still somewhat early, and it will be interesting how things begin to turn out as he begins taking visits.

5. Christian Collins - #7 overall

Kentucky was in to see Collins this week, who they are positioning themselves well with. The top 5 prospect has a close connection with Kentucky assistant Jason Hart, who is from the same area, so that will be something to watch as far as Kentucky as his recruitment goes on. As of right now, the 6-8 forward has three visits scheduled, to Oregon on Sept. 6, Kentucky (Oct. 3-5), and Tennessee (Oct. 25-27). Kentucky should continue to priortize Collins as he continues taking visits.

6. Tajh Ariza - #18 overall

Kentucky was also in to see Ariza on Thursday, who is teammates with Collins at St. John Bosco. The staff got eyes on the pair of targets, and as for Ariza, he has a number of visits lined up after completing his most recent one to USC with Collins, as Oregon is scheduled for this weekend as well as North Carolina the following weekend and Kansas two weeks after that. Kentucky is continuing to remain in consistent contact with the five-star wing.

7. Arafan Diane - #15 overall

Kentucky visited with Diane at midnight on Thursday morning, as well as watching him later in the day. Diane also moved up his visit to Kentucky for the weekend of Sept. 12. The 7-1 big man is also visited Houston from Oct. 9-11. He is in the process of scheduling his visit to Arkansas, which the new date for the Kentucky visit date replaced. It's still somewhat early in Diane's recruitment, as he is continuing to focus on building relationships with each coaching staff. Houston seems to be the frontrunner at the moment, given his long-time relationships there, but again, it's early, as other schools are still entering the fold.

Kentucky is also expected to conduct visits with 2027 Obinna Ekezie Jr as well as 2026 Ethan Taylor sometime soon. The staff has been working very hard on the recruiting trail during the recruiting period.