KSR Today: Kentucky's recruiting heater is showing no signs of slowing down

Never leave the recruiting trail on a heater. Kentucky is sticking to that principle.

The commitment avalanche for Will Stein‘s program officially got rolling when blue-chip quarterback Jake Nawrot joined Kentucky’s 2027 class on April 12. That party is still ongoing two months later. UK recorded a sixth recruiting win this week when Cincinnati (Ohio) Princeton EDGE Jaylen Mercer joined the class.

BREAKING: Class of 2027 DL Jaylen Mercer has Committed to Kentucky, he tells me for @Rivals

The 6’5 290 DL chose the Wildcats over Louisville and West Virginia

“BBN let’s work! Stein time!!”https://t.co/PAYXVgYj6O pic.twitter.com/JkZ0GnwWCk

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) June 12, 2026

The high three-star recruiting picked the Cats over Louisville and West Virginia. Kentucky is now up to 24 commits after Mercer, Corbin (Ky.) High defensive lineman Malachi Brown, Canton (Ga.) Sequoyah linebacker Drew Williams, Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas wide receiver Austin Coles, Perrysburg (Ohio) High offensive lineman Reed Gerken, and New Madison (Ohio) Tri-Village offensive lineman Dominic Black all committed to UK this week. Who could be next? Kentucky is now trending to land blue-chip EDGE Sean Fox after Clemson appeared to be in the lead after visiting Dabo Swinney‘s program earlier this month.

This recruiting heater just will not stop as we enter yet another weekend in Big Blue Land wondering what will happen next for the Cats. As we quickly reach mid-June, the College World Series and World Cup step into the spotlight as our countdown clock for the 2027 college football season starts to shrink.

Kentucky’s 2027 high school recruiting class

Player	Position	High School	Ranking
Jake Nawrot	QB (6-4, 190)	Arlington Heights (Ill.) Hersey	4-star (No. 57 overall)
Dominic Black	T (6-5, 280)	New Madison (Ohio) Tri-Village	4-star (No. 221 overall)
Malachi Brown	iDL (6-4, 265)	Corbin (Ky.) High	4-star (No. 275 overall)
Elijah Brown	iDL (6-1, 290)	Prattville (Ala.) High	4-star (No. 296 overall)
Iveon Lewis	WR (6-2, 180)	Richmond (Va.) Huguenot	4-star (No. 353 overall)
Marquis Bryant	S (5-11, 185)	Rolesville (N.C.) High	4-star (No. 385 overall)
Tristin Hughes	S (6-1, 190)	Rocky River (Ohio) High	4-star (No. 396 overall)
Ian Walker	T (6-5, 305)	Pennington (N.J.) The Pennington School	High 3-star (No. 429 overall)
Larron Westmoreland	S (6-5, 180)	Corbin (Ky.) High	High 3-star (No. 466 overall)
Drew Williams	LB (6-1, 205)	Canton (Ga.) Sequoyah	High 3-star (No. 479 overall)
Miles Brown	CB (6-0, 180)	Martin (Tenn.) Westview	High 3-star (No. 488 overall)
Jaylen Mercer	EDGE (6-3, 250)	Cincinnati (Ohio) Princeton	High 3-star (No. 504 overall)
Antwoine Higgins Jr.	EDGE (6-2, 230)	Cincinnati (Ohio) Anderson	High 3-star (No. 506 overall)
Reed Gerken	iOL (6-4, 290)	Perrysburg (Ohio) High	3-star (No. 607 overall)
Tank Proctor	TE (6-5, 220)	Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage	3-star (No. 631 overall)
Ty Ashley	LB (6-2, 200)	Owensboro (Ky.) High	3-star (No. 637 overall)
Kelsey Gerald	RB (5-11, 191)	Lantana (Fla.) Santaluces Community	3-star (No. 655 overall)
Austin Coles	WR (6-4, 190)	Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas	3-star (No. 677 overall)
Mason Ball	RB (6-0, 190)	Jacksonville (Ark.) High	3-star (No. 684 overall)
Griff Galloway	EDGE (6-3, 240)	Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day School	3-star (No. 695 overall)
Matthias Burrell	iOL (6-4, 320)	Gahanna (Ohio) Lincoln	3-star (No. 811 overall)
Miguel Wilson	CB (5-10, 170)	Mobile (Ala.) Vigor	3-star (No. 816 overall)
Brady Hull	iOL (6-1, 285)	Somerset (Ky.) Pulaski County	3-star (No. 820 overall)
Conrad Hart	TE (6-5, 235)	Lexington (Ky.) Christian Academy	3-star (No. 860 overall)

Kentucky’s baseball adds a big piece in the transfer portal

The 2026 College World Series is off and running in Omaha, but roster-building for 2027 has already started. This offseason’s only transfer portal window opened last week. Kentucky has found a potential new arm to use in the weekend rotation.

Rider transfer PJ Craig committed to the Wildcats shortly after wrapping up an official visit to Lexington.

The New Jersey native spent four seasons in the Rider baseball program. The MAAC transfer will be a redshirt senior with one year of eligibility remaining in 2027. Craig made 13 appearances with 10 starts as a true freshman in 2023. The right-handed pitcher then earned all-conference honors as a sophomore in 2024. His junior season in 2025 was cut short after five starts due to injury. Craig earned All-MAAC honors again as a redshirt junior in 2026. The starting pitcher was 6-2 with a 3.46 ERA over 65 innings in conference play. Craig made three appearances in the postseason and logged 23 innings with a complete game in the conference tournament. Off just one day rest, Rider went to Craig after the complete game and he responded with seven innings of two-hit baseball against Fairfield. The pitcher then gave the Broncs seven innings with four earned runs allowed against Florida in regional play. The No. 4 seed was winning in Gainesville when Craig exited the game.

Kentucky had to address pitching this offseason. The Bat Cats appeared to do that in a big way with the fifth transfer addition of the offseason.

Bat Cats Transfer Tracker

Player	Position	High School	Former School	Year	Misc.
Brody Chrisman	OF (6-3, 205)	Zion (Ind.) Community	Purdue | Akron	Redshirt Senior	All-MAC in 2026 (1.056 OPS with 27 XBH and 23 steals).
JP Peltier	IF/OF (6-3, 195)	Dayton (Ohio) Chaminade Julienne	Wright State	Senior	All-Horizon League in 2026 (20 HR in 2025, 24 doubles in 2026)
Kale Hammer	LHP (6-3, 200)	Snohomish (Wash.) High	Gonzaga | Seattle	Redshirt Junior	Made 13 starts (5.79 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 61 K, 70 IP) in 2026.
Logan Hastings	RHP (6-0, 185)	Huntingtown (Md.) High	Maryland	Junior	Made 35 appearances with 12 starts and five saves over two seasons in the Big Ten.
PJ Craig	RHP (6-4, 220)	Barnegat (N.J.) High	Rider	Redshirt Senior	Two-time All-MAAC selection with 44 career starts and over 250 innings.

Country Roads are still open in Omaha

The College World Series officially got started on Friday in Omaha. A week-plus sprint to crown a college baseball national champion has begun. Both games were decided in the late innings. West Virginia keeps finding ways to win close games.

Remember Armani Guzman? He’s still creating chaos and playing at a ridiculous level for the Mountaineers.

STOLE HOME IN WEST VIRGINIA'S FIRST-EVER MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES GAME‼️ pic.twitter.com/oT7wIvez32

— ESPN (@espn) June 12, 2026

After reaching on an error in the first inning, WVU’s leadoff hitter stole home to give the No. 16 national seed an early lead over Troy. That run ended up mattering. In a tie game in the eighth inning, a chop single by third baseman Tyrus Hall plated two runs and gave the Big 12 program a 7-5 win. The Mountaineers are moving on and will face North Carolina on Sunday night in the winners’ bracket after the Heels pulled away late from Ole Miss. The Rebels and Trojans will play in an elimination game on Sunday afternoon.

Omaha’s biggest party will continue on Saturday when Alabama faces Oklahoma at 3 p.m. ET and Texas plays Georgia at 8 p.m. ET in an SEC invitational on the sport’s biggest stage.

USA rolls over Paraguay in World Cup opener

The World Cup finally arrived in America this week. We saw the home team make a statement on Friday night in Los Angeles.

Team USA jumped out to an early lead against Paraguay and never looked back. One could say that social media was on fire during the goal avalanche.

Four goals. Three points. pic.twitter.com/YKeYinIqMP

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 13, 2026

Games against Turkey and Australia are up next. The men’s national team will be back in action on next Friday. Maybe some more goal avalanches are right around the corner in the group stage.

Steven Peake recaps the 2025-26 Kentucky baskeball season

Mark Pope‘s second season as the head coach of Kentucky men’s basketball was filled with ups and downs.

In his latest episode of KSR Explains, Steven Peake took a trip down memory lane to recap the Wildcats’ rollercoaster 2025-26 season. There was the bad of several bites from the injury bug and seemingly endless double-digit deficits. But there was also the good of unexpected victories and miraculous comeback efforts — not to mention the highlight of the entire season: Otega Oweh‘s halfcourt buzzer-beater in the NCAA Tournament against Santa Clara.

Smash that play button.

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