Meet the 2022-23 Kentucky Wildcats: Freshman Walker Horn could follow father into coaching

We’re getting to know all 15 of the 2022-23 Kentucky Wildcats. Here is what to expect from one of the UK walk-ons. Watch Kentucky.com for stories about all of the remaining Cats as the preseason unfolds.

Walker Horn

Uniform number: 21.

Height/weight: 6-1, 200.

Position: Guard.

Class: Freshman.

Age: 19.

Hometown: Austin, Texas.

High school: Westlake.

Horn’s role in 2022-23: The son of Northern Kentucky head coach Darrin Horn — the former Tates Creek High School standout and Western Kentucky player — Walker Horn played two seasons at Covington Catholic before returning to the Austin, Texas, area (where his father had been an assistant coach) to finish out his high school career. Horn averaged 9.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game as a senior, and now he’s back in Kentucky as part of the Wildcats’ team.

Darrin Horn told the Herald-Leader over the summer that his son has shown some early interest in possibly following him into the coaching profession once his own college career is finished, and he’ll get a first-hand look at the inner-workings of the highest level of college basketball during his time with John Calipari’s program.

Like the rest of the walk-ons, it’s highly unlikely that Horn will get any minutes in close games this season, but he should be in there at the end of blowouts, and he could emerge as an important contributor for the team’s practice sessions, especially in the case of illness or injury to backcourt players during the regular season.

Horn did get the starting nod in the Blue-White Game on Oct. 22, when three UK scholarship players — including starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler — were unable to play due to injuries.