Mark Pope must bring in these three recruits in 2025

Mark Pope has been on a recruiting rampage since taking over as Kentucky’s head coach. His incredible energy has now seen him commit two to start his first recruiting class at Kentucky, with in-state stars Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson. Both will now help Pope recruit the class of 2025 to bring others along.

Who should the head coach bring in besides those two in 2025? Pope has a lot of options, but there are three that would be huge additions. One of them is top-20 forward Tonde Yessoufou, who actually has something in common with Pope, and that is his energy. In a recent interview with Jamie Shaw of On3, he discussed Pope’s pitch to him.

“His message to me is that he wants me to play for him because I’m a great person and how hard I play. He says he enjoys watching me play every time. He always gives me advice to stay mentally strong, even when things aren’t going my way, to stick to the plan and move on to the next play. It’s really important to me that a coach can tell me what I need to hear, the truth.”

– Tonde Yessoufou to Jamie Shaw from On3

In addition to Yessoufou, there’s another big target in this class that the Wildcats need to land, and that’s sharpshooter Braylon Mullins, a top-20 guard in the 2025 class. He’s the perfect fit for a Mark Pope offense that likes to shoot a lot of three-pointers. Also of note is his AAU teammate, Malachi Moreno, currently committed to the Wildcats, who could be trying to bring Mullins to Lexington. He’s made an impressive 47% of his three-point attempts on the Adidas 3SSB circuit this summer.

Another player that Moreno and Johnson are trying to recruit to join them is Acaden Lewis, a top-40 guard in the class. The entire Kentucky staff has Lewis high on their list, as they even paid the four-star guard a home visit earlier this week. After Jasper Johnson committed, many assumed that Kentucky would be out of the Acaden Lewis sweepstakes, but the staff likes the idea of ​​Lewis playing in the backcourt alongside Johnson.

All of these players fit perfectly into Mark Pope’s system and are all players the head coach needs to join Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson in Kentucky’s class of 2025.