Jayden Quaintance will NOT be following Coach Cal to Arkansas

John Calipari will not be bringing his top-ranked signee with him to Arkansas. Instead, 2024 five-star forward Jayden Quaintance has officially cut the Razorbacks from his list, according to Eric Bossi of 247Sports.

Bossi is reporting that Quaintance “has eliminated the Razorbacks and will be looking to forge a new path in his reopened recruitment,” leaving the likes of Louisville, Memphis and Kentucky in contention.

Sources tell KSR that new UK head coach Mark Pope is meeting with the five-star forward on Tuesday, opening the door for the Wildcats to jump back in the mix for the nation’s consensus top-10 prospect and No. 1 overall center.

Quaintance requested a release from his National Letter of Intent back on April 10 following John Calipari’s departure from Kentucky and ensuing move to Arkansas. During the program’s coaching search, the five-star forward wanted to hear from UK AD Mitch Barnhart and give the Wildcats a fair shot at keeping him in Lexington before moving forward with a decommitment.

With the school focused on finding its next leader, Quaintance reopened his recruitment while keeping the path back to Kentucky on the table amid hearing out other schools. That started with an official visit to Louisville last week, followed by another scheduled trip to Memphis this weekend while remaining open to potential interest elsewhere. The initial plan was to schedule a visit to Arkansas, but that is officially no longer the case. Instead, they’re meeting with Mark Pope on Tuesday to discuss a potential pairing in blue and white.

With Coach Cal and the Razorbacks out of the picture, could Pope swing for the fences and land his first blue-chip superstar at Kentucky? He’s getting a fair shake at it starting today.