Kentucky
Future Wildcats shine in updated 2025 recruiting rankings
If you watched ESPN’s 150th Anniversary of College Football series, you may have heard Rece Davis mention how recruiting is the lifeblood of college football. Recruiting is a vital difference in being able to achieve sustained success year after year.
It’s never too early to start looking at 2025 recruiting for the Kentucky Wildcats, with 247 Sports releasing their updated rankings for the 2025 class.
Here’s how the Cats’ top commitments in 2025 fared in this update:
- Cedric Works, DE (Clayton, Ohio): No. 86 prospect (No. 11 Edge rusher); 93 rating
- Javeon Campbell, DL (Frankfort, Kentucky): No. 109 prospect (No. 15 Defensive Lineman); 92 rating
- Quintin Simmons Jr. (Cincinnati, Ohio): No. 161 prospect (No. 16 Wide Receiver); 91 rating
- Martels Carter Jr. (Paducah, Kentucky): No. 223 prospect (No. 19 Safety); 91 rating
Kentucky currently ranks No. 19 overall in the 247 team rankings for the 2025 recruiting class, highlighted by seven 4-star commits and an average rating of 88.78. They are the ninth-highest-rated class in the 16-team SEC.
Elsewhere, ESPN analyzed the top 40 classes in 2025, with Kentucky ranked No. 18 overall. Five Kentucky commits made the ESPN 300, highlighted by running back Marquis Davis (No. 117 overall) on offense and defensive end Javeon Campbell (No. 173 overall) on defense.
The Wildcats’ offense featured Ray Davis, one of the top rushers in the SEC now with the Buffalo Bills, in 2023. Marquise Davis gives them another talented rusher, even if it’ll be another season before he arrives. A versatile player who could also project to defense, Davis has a sturdy build at 5-foot-11, 204 pounds with a nice blend of speed and quickness. He’s a productive runner who rushed for more than 2,000 yards as a junior.
Kentucky has used transfers in recent years at quarterback, but ESPN 300 QB Stone Saunders give the Wildcats a promising option to develop within the system. A competitive player with good arm strength, Saunders will be a four-year starter in high school. He threw for more than 3,000 yards and 50 touchdowns as a junior. The Wildcats have kept some of the state’s top defensive prospects at home in ESPN 300 safety Martels Carter Jr. and DE Campbell. Carter has good speed, ball skills and can contribute in the return game. Campbell is a basketball player with limited prep football experience having started playing as a junior but has shown he is a quick study notching over a dozen sacks last year and still has room to grow as a player and could be a disruptive and versatile defensive lineman for the Wildcats.
Mark Stoops and Co. appear to have another special class in the works.
The best shooter in college basketball will, in fact, stay in college basketball — and Kentucky is ready to make its final push.
Iowa State star Milan Momcilovic has withdrawn from the 2026 NBA Draft and will play somewhere at his current level in 2026-27. That’s not expected to be back in Ames, as Cyclone coach T.J. Otzelberger made clear, saying that if the 6-8 forward doesn’t make the jump to the pros, “it’s important that he’s able to find a landing spot at a college that fits what he’s looking for.”
Could Lexington be that final destination? The perimeter sniper already said he’s got respect for the Wildcats and Mark Pope, watching his programs closely since his time at BYU when they competed against each other in the Big 12.
In his eyes, he could be the piece Kentucky was missing this past season in the program’s Round of 32 exit, led by Momcilovic’s 20 points and five rebounds in the Cyclones’ 82-63 victory in St. Louis.
“I think Kentucky would be a good fit,” Momcilovic told the Herald-Leader’s Ben Roberts last week at the NBA Draft Combine. “I obviously went against Pope at BYU his first year (in the Big 12), and I loved how his team played. I think we went 1-1 against them, but they killed us at their place, because they fly the ball up the court and shoot 3s. I really like the way they play.
“And obviously, Kentucky last year, he didn’t have enough shooters around him to really coach, I feel like, the way he wanted. But I think — if I were to choose Kentucky — that would be a good fit for me. I feel like I’d be a great player for him, and he’d be a good coach for me.”
Momcilovic averaged a career-high 16.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 30.5 minutes per game while shooting 50.6 percent from the field, 48.7 percent from three and 87.8 percent at the line. He knocked down 260 3-pointers, good for 3.7 makes on 7.5 attempts per contest.
The former four-star recruit has been Kentucky’s dream portal target all offseason. Now, he’s officially a free agent, pulling out of the draft ahead of the withdrawal deadline.
On Tuesday, head coach Mark Pope revealed that there will likely be no summer trip for the 2026-27 Wildcats.
“We’re probably a lean towards not going right now,” Pope told Darrell Bird of Cats Pause.
The NCAA recently adopted a proposal that will allow schools to take summer tours every year after the rules previously limited schools to one trip every four years. Even if it ended up being somewhere close by, this would’ve been a great experience for the Cats to get some exhibition games in, especially with the roster overhaul they’re going through.
Oh well. The good news is UK will still have plenty of summer practices to develop and build chemistry.
Kentucky
Funeral arrangements announced for Eastern Kentucky man electrocuted while power washing building
MORGAN COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – Funeral arrangements have been made for a Morgan County man who was electrocuted while pressure washing a building last Friday in Johnson County.
Services for 48-year-old Jonathan “Jon” Brown will be Sunday, May 31, at 2 p.m. at Jamie Ferguson’s Garage in West Liberty.
According to his obituary, Brown was a former Morgan County Fiscal Court magistrate, and the owner of Kentucky Pool Company and a power washing business.
Brown also helped out with radio broadcasts of Morgan County High School sports.
Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.
-
Denver, CO1 minute agoRep. Hurd emphasizes need for consistent, predictable energy policies at Denver roundtable
-
Seattle, WA7 minutes ago
Pollen forensic technique links missing woman cold case to the Pacific Northwest
-
San Diego, CA13 minutes agoA South San Diego Mother questions SDPD’S response to her teenage son’s death
-
Milwaukee, WI19 minutes agoFinal public hearing for MPS budget proposal
-
Atlanta, GA25 minutes agoHigh E. coli levels along Chattahoochee River force business closures after days of rain
-
Minneapolis, MN31 minutes agoMayor Frey vows ‘top-notch’ hire as Minneapolis police chief search looms
-
Indianapolis, IN37 minutes agoArmed carjacking reported at Fishers IHOP; 2 Indianapolis teens arrested
-
Pittsburg, PA43 minutes agoMan fatally shot by co-worker in Pittsburgh area, police say
