Kentucky is still in the hunt for one of the biggest names in the 2027 class, and CJ Rosser has now laid out exactly when the Wildcats will get their turn.
The 6-foot-10 power forward announced Thursday afternoon that he has trimmed his recruitment to seven schools: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Southern California. Rosser, ranked by 247Sports as the No. 2 overall recruit in the high school senior class, also unveiled his official visit calendar, with a trip to Lexington scheduled for Oct. 1-2 during Big Blue Madness.
Rosser’s visit slate starts this weekend at North Carolina. He will then go to North Carolina State from Sept.
16-18, Miami from Sept. 25-27 and Arkansas on Sept. 28 before arriving at Kentucky. After the Wildcats, he is set to visit Southern California from Oct. 4-6 and Louisville on Oct.
22-23. On3’s Joe Tipton first reported Rosser’s finalists and visit schedule.
Kentucky has made Rosser a major target for a while now. He was the first 2027 recruit to land a UK scholarship offer, getting it in May 2025, and the Wildcats have kept him high on their board ever since. Rosser is one of 24 prospects in the high school senior class who hold an offer from Kentucky.
The Wildcats have also already seen him up close. Rosser took an unofficial visit to Kentucky in February and watched UK beat Oklahoma in SEC play at Rupp Arena.
Kentucky’s evaluation of him has stretched across multiple settings, too. Soon after his offer, assistant coach Mikhail McLean went to Mexico to watch Rosser with USA Basketball at the 2025 FIBA Under-16 Men’s AmeriCup.
This year, Kentucky coaches also tracked him on the Nike AAU circuit, at the NBPA Top 100 Camp and at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Turkey.
Rosser’s production has backed up the hype, even if the efficiency has room to grow. On the Nike travel circuit this season with Team United, he averaged 16.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, while shooting 38.3% from the field, 17.7% from 3-point range and 69.0% from the free-throw line. At the U-17 World Cup in Turkey, he averaged 16.4 points and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 51.3% overall, 36.7% from deep and 74.3% at the line as the Americans won their eighth straight title.
“I’ve got to improve on everything, for real,” Rosser told the Herald-Leader in May. “Just keep working on my game... Just try and improve every day, get better every day.”
Rosser, originally from North Carolina, plays at Southeastern Prep in Orlando, Florida. He shares that roster with another Kentucky target, point guard Beckham Black, who also has a UK offer.
Mark Pope and Mikhail McLean have even spent time with Rosser away from basketball. In April, the Kentucky staff pair visited him and went fishing.
Rosser’s visit puts him among the busiest fall targets on Kentucky’s calendar. He is the fifth recruit set to officially visit UK this fall, joining class of 2027 center Lewis Uvwo and point guard Nasir Anderson, plus class of 2028 prospects Benjamin Berrouet, a power forward, and Brady Pettigrew, a combo guard.
Across the 2027 class, the board is still mostly wide open. Of the 12 players in that group who have received five-star grades from 247Sports, only one has committed: NaVorro Bowman Jr., a combo guard who picked Connecticut on Thursday. Bowman, who also held a Kentucky offer, is ranked No. 11 overall in the class and is the highest-ranked player to have committed so far.
Two other top-20 players in the 2027 class are already off the board as well: Duke-bound power forward Kager Knueppel and LSU pledge Ahmad Hudson.
Kentucky commit Ryan Hampton, a four-star small forward from Texas, is ranked No. 21 in the class. He is one of five SEC recruits already committed from the 2027 cycle, along with LSU’s Ahmad Hudson, Alabama’s Chase Lumpkin, Missouri’s Scottie Adkinson and Georgia’s Justin Wise.
Among the 24 prospects who currently hold a Kentucky offer, only four have made commitments so far: Hampton to Kentucky in early June, Howard Williams to Arizona State on Monday, Lumpkin to Alabama on Wednesday and Bowman to UConn on Thursday.
In Other News...
Kentuckys New Offense Just Unlocked A Weapon Fans Havent Seen Enough
Will Steins first game at Kentucky offered an immediate hint that this offense may look different in a meaningful way, and the tight ends were right in the middle of it. Three of them combined for nine catches, 140 yards and two touchdowns, a sharp departure from how the position had been used in recent years under Mark Stoops and one of the clearest signs yet that Stein is willing to spread the field in new ways.
The performance drew praise from both players and coaches, which matters because tight ends are often the kind of weapon that can reshape an offense without always getting top billing. If Kentucky is going to keep building on that opening-week usage, the position could become a central part of the plan rather than a supporting detail, and that is exactly the sort of wrinkle opposing defenses will start studying closely. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Just Landed A Huge Big Blue Madness Recruiting Opportunity
Big Blue Madness will again do more than open the basketball calendar for Kentucky fans this fall. The annual showcase, set for Oct. 2, has become one of the programs biggest recruiting stages, and this year it comes with a major name attached in five-star power forward CJ Rosser, the 6-foot-10 forward ranked No. 2 in the 2027 class by 247Sports. Mark Popes staff has been pushing hard for Rosser, whose size and versatility make him one of the most closely watched young prospects in the country.
For Kentucky, the timing matters as much as the talent. Getting Rosser around the program for Big Blue Madness gives the Wildcats another chance to sell the atmosphere, the fan support and the pitch that has long made Lexington one of college basketballs loudest recruiting magnets. Rosser has already mapped out a busy round of visits elsewhere, so this trip will not decide anything by itself, but it does give Kentucky an early foothold in a recruitment that figures to stay competitive for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky's NFL Footprint Is Bigger Than Fans Might Realize
Kentuckys presence in the NFL has become easy to overlook if you only follow the Wildcats on Saturdays, but the programs reach stretches well beyond Lexington. Heading into the 2026 season, 22 former Kentucky players are on 53-man rosters, injured reserve lists or practice squads, and two more are working in NFL front offices. It is a reminder that the Wildcats keep producing players who can stick at the leagues highest level, even as the college game turns over year to year.
The footprint gets even more noticeable when you look at the team-by-team spread. Six NFL clubs have multiple former Wildcats, with Buffalo and Jacksonville carrying the largest contingents, and the Jaguars connection carries an extra Kentucky angle because former offensive coordinator Liam Coen is entering his second season as head coach there. For a fan base that tends to measure success in SEC standings and bowl games, it is another sign that Kentuckys influence is showing up in more places than many realize. [Read more 🡒]