2023 5-star forward Kwame Evans Jr. commits to Oregon

Kwame “KJ” Evans Jr. is a Duck, committing to Oregon over Arizona, Auburn and Kentucky, among other offers.

The 6-foot-10, 190-pound forward is ratted as the No. 5 overall prospects in the 2023 class, according to the On3 Consensus, the average ranking from all four major recruiting media companies. He’s also the No. 1 power forward and the No. 1 player in the state of Florida.

“I chose Oregon because I felt like it gave me the best opportunity to go to the League and the coaching staff made it feel like family to me,” Evans told On3.

The five-star forward joins four-star point guard Jackson Shelstad in Oregon’s 2023 recruiting class. Five-star forward Mookie Cook, who recently de-committed from Oregon, is heavily considering a return to the Ducks, sources tell On3’s Joe Tipton.

Evans, who included Kentucky in his list of finalists, recently told KSR that the Wildcats’ upcoming moves would determine whether or not he would consider the program coming down the home stretch of his recruitment.

“Kentucky, the pedigree, John Calipari,” he told KSR at Peach Jam in July. “Depending on where some people go, we’ll see what happens up there. But they put people with my size in the league, so it’s a good place for me, as well.”

Edwards, a 6-foot-8 wing out of Philadelphia, committed to Kentucky the day after Peach Jam came to a close. The Wildcats have also since added Ugonna Kingsley Onyenso in the class of 2022, who is expected to return to Lexington and anchor the frontcourt in 2023-24. Factor in Kentucky’s push for five-star prospects Ron Holland and Aaron Bradshaw, Evans understood he was likely the odd man out.

“It’s just seeing if I can fit there, really,” he told KSR. “They just got Rob (Dillingham), that’s a good combo right there. I just have to see where other players are going and figure out if there’s a fit there.”

As Kentucky went one direction, Evans went the other, taking his talents to Eugene to play for the Ducks.

“Oregon with Dana Altman,” Evans told KSR when breaking down his final options at Peach Jam. “The people they’re trying to bring in and recruit, they fit really good around me. I fit really well in their system, so it’s a good place.”

Will fellow former Kentucky target Mookie Cook join Evans at Oregon? It’s now on the table.

Meanwhile, with Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards and Reed Sheppard locked up, along with UK pushing for DJ Wagner, Bradshaw and Holland, the Wildcats are in strong contention to finish with the No. 1 recruiting class in 2023.