Braydon Hawthorne committed to Mark Pope‘s Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday. The 6-foot-8 small forward, who completed his high school basketball career at Huntington Prep, received heaps of praise from the 52-year-old.
While speaking with Kentucky Sports Radio, Pope commended the “trajectory” of Hawthorne. The official Instagram page of KSR shared the quote on Thursday:
“Braydon Hawthorne has officially signed with Kentucky, and Mark Pope is thrilled about the newest addition to his squad. #BBN,” the post was captioned.
“Braydon Hawthorne probably has the steepest trajectory of anybody in the Class of 2025. He is a great learner, a 4.0 student and highly skilled. His ceiling is incredible, and he really wants to be here at Kentucky. I love the face that he wants to come and compete and that he’s dying to get better every single day,” said Pope.
Hawthorne, who ranks at the 63rd spot nationally, 16th in the small forward position and first in West Virginia, initially committed to the West Virginia Mountaineers in October last year. He reopened his commitment in March after a coaching change.
Braydon Hawthorne also received offers from top programs, including the Duke Blue Devils, Pittsburgh Panthers and West Virginia Hokies. Furthermore, he also took official visits to Kentucky on April 17, Virginia Tech on April 19, Pittsburgh on April 29 and Duke on May 6, before making his decision.
The McDonald’s All-American Game nominee averaged 23.5 points, six rebounds and four assists per contest in his senior year.
A look at Braydon Hawthorne’s Kentucky going into the next season
The Kentucky Wildcats, under the leadership of Mark Pope, finished seventh in the 2024-25 SEC Standings. They had a 24-12 overall record and 10-8 in their conference.
In the NCAA Tournament, they reached the Sweet 16, before they were knocked out by the Tennessee Volunteers by a 78-65 score on March 29. However, Mark Pope signed two players and has received hard commitments from two players from the Class of 2025.
These include a four-star shooting guard from Overtime Elite, Jasper Johnson, who signed on May 9, and a four-star center from Great Crossing High School, Malachi Moreno, who signed on Aug. 16 last year.
Apart from Braydon Hawthorne, Pope also received a hard commitment from an unranked power forward, Andrija Jelavic from Zagreb.
In the transfer portal, they acquired power forward Jayden Quaintance from Arizona State, point guard Jaland Lowe from Pittsburgh, small forward Mouhamed Dioubate from Alabama, combo guard Denzel Aberdeen from Florida, small forward Kam Williams from Tulane and center Reece Potter from Miami.
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Edited by Akshay Saraswat
