Kentucky football is rolling on the recruiting trail right now. Four-star safety Marquis Bryant became the latest top target to join the 2027 high school class. Could the Cats get another big commitment before the Kentucky Derby arrives on Saturday? A major target is ready to come off the board.

Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep EDGE Aidan O’Neil will making his commitment announcement before his scheduled summer official visits in June. This blue-chip recruit is going live on Friday. This announcement will be live on the 247 Sports YouTube feed at 10 a.m. ET before the Oaks Day action really gets rolling at Churchill Downs.

Aidan O’Neil is the No. 110 overall recruit in the 2027 Rivals Industry Ranking. O’Neil is a top-five player in New Jersey. Notre Dame is currently the favorite to land a commitment from this four-star prospect. However, both Kentucky and Penn State have June official visits scheduled. Those are the schools in O’Neil’s final three.

The Wildcats host this defensive end for a junior day visit in January and a spring practice visit in April. O’Neil recently made a trip to South Bend in April. Marcus Freeman‘s program has made a big push in the Mid-Atlantic to win this recruitment.

Yet another top Kentucky target will come off the board before the weekend officially arrives.

Kentucky’s 2027 high school recruiting class

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From Donerail’s 91-1 miracle in 1913 to Rich Strike shocking the world in 2022, the Kentucky Derby has a long history of making believers out of longshot backers. Saturday could be next.

The Kentucky Derby favorite hasn’t won since Justify in 2018. Last year, Sovereignty was at 7-1 odds and rallied from the back of the pack on a sloppy track to run down favorite Journalism. That wasn’t even close to the biggest longshot to win this race.  

With Great White going off at 50-1 on Saturday, history’s money is on the longshots. Here is a look at the five biggest upsets the Run for the Roses has ever produced.  

Donerail, 1913  

ODDS: 91-1 

The record has stood for 113 years and might never fall. Donerail walked about three miles on dirt and cobblestone to reach the track that morning. He was stabled at a separate facility that day because Churchill Downs was overcrowded. Owner Thomas P. Hayes was just looking for a piece of the purse, hoping to finish in the top five. Instead, jockey Roscoe Goose kept Donerail off the pace letting the favorites Ten Point and Foundation race out front. In the final stretch, Goose let Donerail loose and he flew past the favorites to win by half a length.  

It was a disasterclass for Mark Pope and the Kentucky basketball program on Tuesday. Tyran Stokes’ commitment to Kansas was a big part of that, but it was more so everything surrounding his polarizing decision to turn down the Wildcats as a Nike athlete in favor of the adidas-affiliated Jayhawks.

Why was Pope liking tweets about the No. 1 recruit in the country uniting a divided fanbase when all of the intel leading up to the announcement suggested KU was the likely choice? Why did Mo Williams respond to Stokes on Twitter about going public with his decision on ESPN’s Inside the NBA — and likely committing an NCAA violation in the process? Why did UK think it was a good PR move to announce Justin McBride’s signing 30 minutes before the biggest recruiting decision for the program in over a decade, completely taking the shine away from his addition as a massive impact piece off the bench for the Wildcats? Did you even remember McBride committed to Kentucky through the chaos of Stokes’ move to Lawrence? You should, because he’s worth the attention, despite the poorly calculated rollout on UK’s part.

Stokes commitment to Kansas is by far Pope’s worst recruiting miss to date, considering his investment in the top-ranked prospect and who he could have landed had he pivoted when the writing was on the wall. 16 of the top 30 prospects visited with the Wildcats and 22 total — not including the brother of a redshirt freshman and the son of an assistant coach — received offers. Zero committed. Do you have a real chance with at least one or two if you read the room that, if you have to offer the kid’s high school coach and mentor, while armed with a historic bag of cash and Nike’s help, he might just not be into you? Odds are good.

That’s water under the bridge now, though, and there is no crying on the yacht. Figure it out or the next guy will. That’s the situation Pope is in, laying a solid foundation with the likes of Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Kam Williams, Braydon Hawthorne, Ousmane N’Diaye, McBride and Malachi Moreno, but clearly missing a game-changing star talent. The roster as currently constructed is a potential NCAA Tournament team, but that’s not the standard in Lexington. It’s not understanding the assignment. That will take a needle-mover, but who?

Iowa State’s Milan Momcilovic and Santa Clara’s Allen Graves are the obvious answers. Land either of those two and everyone shuts up about Stokes. Easy move for Pope, assuming he can pull it off. The issue? They’re both leaning toward keeping their names in the NBA Draft, just like Baylor’s Tounde Yessoufou — there were multiple reports Tuesday that the latter has already decided to officially turn pro. Money talks, though, and the Wildcats have plenty of it. Yank that rabbit out of the hat and close things out with another shooter or two, along with complementary depth. That’s exactly where UK goes from here.

What if Momcilovic, Graves and Yessoufou are off the table, though, ready for life in the pros (or just not wanting to come)? A reclassification option or two could emerge over the course of the AAU season this spring and summer. They always do. Top-10 recruit Ryan Hampton just received an offer this week and has been publicly rumored as a candidate while nine total players currently hold scholarships from Pope and the Wildcats. It’s not the sexiest group of talent for now, but a lot can change over the next several months. Maybe a surefire option emerges there?

If not that path, be prepared to hear the international names thrown around in a hurry. Pope is already rumored to be flying across the world to meet with such a talent as we speak — and there is probably more where that comes from, considering there are still four spots to fill. Again, maybe not clear head-turners based on names and/or stats, but quite the range of talent to choose from if your evaluation is top-notch.

Until then, Pope and this staff have to take one on the chin and acknowledge it was a real misread. There are other avenues, but life is much more difficult today and tomorrow than it was yesterday with the Wildcats forced to recover quickly. The party will be back on with Momcilovic, Graves, Yessoufou or the equivalent, but until then, those in that building have some questions to answer and no time to waste.

Learning how to read the room wouldn’t be a bad place to start, either.