Kentucky’s men’s basketball recruiting is targeting an unlikely place — home

When class of 2025 Woodford County star Jasper Johnson took to social media Friday to announce he had received a scholarship offer from John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats, it took UK men’s hoops recruiting to a place it has not been since the late 1980s.

With Johnson’s offer, Kentucky has now offered a men’s basketball scholarship to an in-state high school player for the third straight recruiting class.

Class of 2023 North Laurel star Reed Sheppard, the commonwealth’s reigning Mr. Basketball and a rare homegrown McDonald’s All-American, has signed with UK.

Calipari has also offered class of 2024 prospect Travis Perry, the Lyon County star who is the commonwealth’s high school boys’ basketball all-time leading scorer and the 2022-23 Gatorade Kentucky Player of the Year.

As best as I can tell, the last time Kentucky offered men’s hoops scholarships to in-state high school players from three straight recruiting classes, Eddie Sutton was the Wildcats head man.

In the class of 1986, Sutton and staff offered (and signed) Apollo’s Rex Chapman and Pulaski County’s Reggie Hanson.

The following year, Kentucky offered (and signed) Mason County’s Deron Feldhaus, Paintsville’s John Pelphrey and Henry Clay’s Sean Sutton (the then-UK head coach’s son).

Then, in 1988, UK offered (and signed) Clay County star Richie Farmer.

(If you factor in transfers coming home to the commonwealth from out-of-state colleges, Kentucky men’s hoops added in-state products in three straight recruiting classes from 1993 through 1995 and in five straight from 2001 through 2005.

That isn’t the same thing, however, as offering homegrown prospects directly out of high school in three straight classes.)

With the offers to Sheppard, Perry and now Johnson, Calipari has extended scholarship opportunities to the same number of in-state prospects in the classes of 2023 through 2025 as he did in total to the classes of 2009 through 2022.

Before Sheppard, the only in-state players Calipari offered and signed directly out of high school were Bullitt East’s Derek Willis (class of 2013), Madison Central’s Dominique Hawkins (2013) and Pendleton County’s Dontaie Allen (2019).

The uptick in in-state offers from UK tracks to what seems to be a cyclical upturn in the level of homegrown talent being produced in the commonwealth. After a long, largely barren stretch for the production of in-state players capable of playing power conference men’s college hoops, the state of Kentucky is finally again supplying high-major recruiters with reason to look here.

There are few subjects that seem to create more errant thinking than the idea of in-state basketball players at UK.

Contrary to an assertion one often hears, Kentucky should not seek out homegrown players specifically with the idea of filling depth spots on its bench. That isn’t fair to the players.

UK should recruit homegrown prospects based on the same criteria it applies to choose the players it woos from all other states — is this player good enough to be a regular contributor on a Kentucky team winning at the level UK is accustomed to performing at?

There is no question that the “experience” of Kentucky Wildcats basketball is better when homegrown players are playing meaningful roles for the Cats.

All eight of UK’s NCAA championship teams featured at least one player who played high school hoops in the commonwealth among its top six scorers. Whether there is a causal relationship involved in that is open to debate, but it is a fact.

Of course, offering players is not the same thing as signing them.

Sheppard’s parents, Jeff Sheppard and the former Stacey Reed, were both UK basketball standouts in their own rights. A 6-foot-3, 170-pound combo guard, Reed Sheppard was born to be a Wildcat.

Kentucky played host to the 6-2, 175-pound Perry on an unofficial recruiting visit for the Wildcats’ 86-54 demolition of Auburn on Feb. 25. Still, the vibe I’ve gotten off the Lyon County star’s recruitment has never made me feel especially confident he will spend his college career playing in Rupp Arena.

An unusually skilled offensive player, Perry will, assuming good health, be a multi-year college starter somewhere. Besides, Kentucky and Western Kentucky, he also holds offers from Michigan, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Missouri, Cincinnati and Creighton, among many others, according to 24/7 Sports.

Johnson’s family background is similar to Sheppard’s. His father, Dennis Johnson, and his uncle, Derrick Johnson, were both football players at UK. His grandfather, Alvis Johnson, was an athletics administrator at Kentucky.

Other than the Wildcats, Jasper Johnson also holds offers from Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, Xavier, West Virginia, Arizona State, California, Missouri and Texas A&M, according to 24/7 Sports.

However it turns out, it’s been three-and-a-half decades since high-profile, homegrown prospects from three straight classes have had the chance to play men’s hoops for the Cats.

If you are the kind of fan who likes a dose of “Kentucky” in your UK men’s basketball, these are good times.

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