Meet the 2025-26 Kentucky Wildcats -- with Walker Horn and without Andrija Jelavic (for now)

There are 14 Kentucky men’s basketball players on campus getting ready for the 2025-26 season — just maybe not the 14 you were expecting.

Well, let me rephrase that. 13 of the 14 players were known and expected to arrive this week for move-in ahead of summer workouts and camps for the Wildcats. That baker’s dozen included four returning players in Otega Oweh, Brandon Garrison, Collin Chandler and Trent Noah, six portal additions in Jayden Quaintance, Jaland Lowe, Denzel Aberdeen, Mo Dioubate, Kam Williams and Reece Potter, and three high school signees in Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno and Braydon Hawthorne.

Croatian forward Andrija Jelavic was the lone uncertainty, his season just wrapping up overseas and academic schedule pushed back a bit compared to players in the United States. The 6-11 stretch big will make his way to Lexington soon, but not quite yet, unfortunately.

So why is it that 14 players introduced themselves at Mark Pope’s annual Father/Son Camp at Historic Memorial Coliseum and the Joe Craft Center on Saturday? It’s because Walker Horn is back for the Wildcats.

Horn, a 6-3 guard from Austin, TX and the son of Northern Kentucky head coach Darrin Horn, entered the NCAA transfer portal back in April amid roster uncertainty with the House settlement. With that approved late Friday evening and roster limits capped at 15 regardless of scholarship or walk-on status, it appears the rising senior is back to take it after spending three seasons with the Wildcats from 2022-25.

His return wasn’t meant to be much of a secret, either, Horn the first player introduced by a teammate with Garrison doing the honors.

“Today, I’m going to be introducing my guy Walk,” Garrison said. “Fun fact about him is in practice, he does not miss and he’s got the quickest trigger ever. That’s my guy Walk.”

From there, Horn took the microphone to introduce a fan favorite in Harlan County’s own, Trent Noah.

“I get the pleasure of introducing Trent Noah,” he said. “A little fun fact about Trent is he’s a renowned movie critic. You can go on your phone and download the app Letterboxd and find Trent Noah’s account with a lot of movie suggestions and ratings.”

Back with his teammates like he never left.

Player introductions at Father/Son camp pic.twitter.com/d3OhSQavPZ

— Big Blue Express (@bigbluexpress) June 7, 2025

Horn joined fellow walk-on Grant Darbyshire in the transfer portal ahead of the deadline back in April while Zach Tow also made the team during walk-on tryouts ahead of the 2024-25 season. No official word on Darbyshire or Tow — both have remaining eligibility and are grandfathered in with the House settlement, meaning Kentucky could technically bring all three back beyond the 14 scholarship players for 17 total pieces on the bench if all parties involved pursued that.

For now, though, it appears Pope is rolling with these 15, including Jelavic. And we will happily welcome Horn’s presence back in the locker room as the Wildcats pursue banner No. 9.