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Jayden Quaintance injury update: Mark Pope reveals latest on rehab process

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater10/06/25samdg_33
Kentucky F Jayden Quaintance
Aaron Perkins | Kentucky Sports Radio

Kentucky is really beginning its basketball season this week with media day this morning before Big Blue Madness tips off the year on Saturday night. So, with the Wildcats back on the court, the biggest question about their team is that of the health of Jayden Quaintance, one of the top prospects in the country who’s still recovering from the ACL surgery that he had back in March.

Pope provided the latest on Quaintance’s rehab while with the media at the Joe Craft Center on Monday. He said that their highest-rated transfer, who arrives for his sophomore season this winter, continues to test off the charts physically, as he not only gets back healthy but is actually improving based on their data for him.

“The one thing I can tell you is he is, like, breaking every record known to humankind in terms of his rehab,” said Pope. “So, a month ago, (Brandon Wells) and Randy (Towner) came to me and they’re like, coach – so, these numbers are just insane, okay. So, he was at a 46% asymmetry strength-wise, which is fully expected, okay. And then, it was a month or five weeks ago and they said to me, ‘Coach, it’s down to 3%’ – and not only is the asymmetry down to 3%, but he’s 20% stronger in basic, kind of, full-leg functioning, in both legs, than the average same body type, same size NBA player right now kind of going through the Kanga Tech data. That’s crazy!”

For reference, KSR’s Tyler Thompson wrote a bit on an explanation of what strength asymmetry is in an update three weeks ago on Quaintance. It refers to the difference in strength between the two of your legs, with his injured one obviously not as strong as his healthy one before but with Quaintance having made very notable progress the past month in evening the two out based on those numbers per Pope.

That said, as quickly and as well as he may be progressing, UK remains firm in that they’re going to take as cautious an approach as possible coming into the season with Quaintance. It continues to be a matter of him being ready to play for them this year, with being one of the best, highest-impact players in college basketball, while also not risking him for further injury that could have an effect on his future in the NBA, as he remains projected a lottery, first-round type of talent for the 2026 NBA Draft.

“I don’t know exactly where to strike that balance, but it’s really important,” said Pope.

“Time-wise, he’s just going so fast, but we are going to proceed with extreme caution,” Pop said. “As fast as he’s recovering, we’re still, like – there’s a balance that we’re trying to strike where he’s got an incredible, incredible future in this game and we’re going to make sure he gets every opportunity to help this team be great and also have an opportunity to go on and do all the great things he’s going to do after this.”

As a true freshman last year at Arizona State, Quaintance averaged 9.4 points (52.5% FG), 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game for the Sun Devils, which earned him Big 12 All-Defensive and All-Freshman honors at the age of just 17. He would then decide to enter the portal this offseason and committed to Kentucky, where he was originally signed out of high school before the coaching change from John Calipari to Mark Pope, as the No. 4 overall transfer per On3’s Industry Ranking of 2025’s Top Transfer Portal Players.

However, Quaintance comes to Lexington with a prior injury with him having torn his ACL in February, which he then had repaired in a surgery a month later in mid-March. Each update on that knee has since been fairly similar, with the sophomore big man continuing to trend and test well but with the program wanting to keep complete caution with him.

Whenever he comes back to the court, Quaintance could be one of the biggest pieces to this upcoming season in the bluegrass. That’s with what all he can bring to their team, when eventually healthy enough to them, at Kentucky.

“Like, this dude is a big, strong, hulking, brilliant, humbling for the head coach player who’s going to be really fun to coach this year,” said Pope.