By: Casey Madison (X/BleedBlueCasey) | Photo Credit: @/TWonderD on Twitter
Mark Pope and the Kentucky coaching staff continue to schedule visits for top prospects in the Class of 2026, and this time it will be New Jersey native Deron Rippey Jr (#16/247sports). The five-star guard out of Blair Academy is taking an official visit to Kentucky this weekend. If you don’t know the name yet, you will soon. At the beginning of the summer, Rippey was ranked 31st on 247sports’ national rankings — since then he has double his stock, rising to a five-star guard and a 2 point guard in the class, only behind Taylen Kinney.
Earlier this month, Kentucky Sports Radio talked to Rippey, and he discussed his thoughts on Kentucky:
“I love how (Kentucky) continued on the winning program after Coach (John) Calipari left. Mark Pope, I think he’s a very high-level coach, he’s a guard’s coach, he’s just an overall savant of the game of basketball.” (via Zach Geoghagen).
Earlier this month, Rippey cut his list down to 12 schools, shortly after that he scheduled visits to other schools aswell. His trimmed list currently includes Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Miami, Syracuse, Texas, Duke, Louisville, Kansas, NC State, Indiana, and Tennessee.
Kentucky jumped in the mix earlier this summer, and now Coach Pope is swinging big, and they have made up some significant grounds in recent weeks. That’s a huge win already, but getting the first visit helps set the tone for the rest of his recruiting process.
Not only has Deron Rippey had good things to say about the Kentucky coaching staff, but even more important he got to spend time with Mark Pope at the U19 USA Training Camp earlier this summer in Colorado which helped the Wildcats improve relationships with many other recruits in the class of 2026 aswell.
Can Kentucky Actually Land Him?
The short simple answer is yes — but it won’t be easy.
Following his visit to Kentucky, Rippey plans to visit Miami on August 27th, North Carolina on August 31st, Alabama September 13th, Texas September 19th, Syracuse September 26th, Indiana October 17th, Tennessee October 25th, Kansas November 2nd, and NC State November 7th. The visit is obviously important, but it’s even more valuable to the Wildcats because Deron will have roughly a month before his next visit — giving him a notable visit that he can remind himself of is very important.
This weekend Mark another test of Mark Pope’s recruiting power. Deron Rippey Jr. is the kind of player that could come in and thrive as an elite defender, and incredibly athletic point-guard. If the visit is successful as planned, we could potentially see Kentucky as an early favorite (always subject to change).
Let’s make sure to give him a warm welcome when he comes to Lexington this weekend, maybe it will help bring another elite guard to Kentucky.
Photo Credit: @/TWonderD on Twitter/X
