Mark Pope will visit a 5-star recruit on Wednesday

Ahead of a busy weekend where he’ll host a couple of talented high school recruits, Mark Pope is making a midweek pitstop to go see another.

On3’s Joe Tipton reports that Pope will make an in-home visit on Wednesday to see five-star prospect Deron Rippey Jr. A 6-foot-2 guard out of Blair Academy (NJ), the same school that produced current Kentucky senior Otega Oweh, Rippey is considered the No. 12 overall recruit and the second-best point guard from the 2026 cycle.

Tipton reports that Duke head coach Jon Scheyer and Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes will also visit Rippey. Wednesday marks the start of the fall recruiting period, which means coaches can now make in-person visits with 2026 recruits.

Source: Duke’s Jon Scheyer and Kentucky’s Mark Pope will conduct in-home visits with 5⭐️ Deron Rippey Jr. today. https://t.co/D4KgWZ7KSM https://t.co/WKesYYSDNj pic.twitter.com/ygYHS1E6kT

— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) September 3, 2025

Since offering the talented point guard in June, Pope has made Rippey a clear priority target in this class.

“I love how (Kentucky) continued on the winning program after Coach (John) Calipari left,” Rippey told KSR in July. “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. Using that terminology, I think I’m a high-level point guard that can think the game fast, so being able to play for a coach like that will be important for me.”

Rippey, who is down to a dozen finalists, is in the midst of a long official visit tour. He’s already gone on trips to check out Miami (FL) and North Carolina. His next stop will be at Alabama later this month before eventually coming to Lexington for his official visit with the Wildcats in early October. A decision is expected soon after he completes his visits.

• Miami (August 27-29)
• North Carolina (August 31-September 2)
• Alabama (September 12-14)
• Texas (September 19-21)
• Syracuse (September 26-28)
• Kentucky (October 3-5)
• Indiana (October 17-19)
• Duke (October 21-23)
• Tennessee (October 25-26)
• Kansas (November 1-3)
• NC State (November 7-9)

But before Rippey can even make his way to UK’s campus next month, Pope made sure to get in his ear on the first day the recruiting period opened up.

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