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Kentucky lands commitment from elite 4-star small forward out of West Virginia
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Braydon Hawthorne is a Kentucky Wildcat.
The 4-star small forward from Huntington, W.V., announced his decision at a commitment ceremony on Tuesday. He chose the Wildcats over Duke, Pitt, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia.
Hawthorne was originally signed to remain in state and play for West Virginia after he signed an NLI with the Mountaineers. But after Darian DeVries left for Indiana after just 1 season in Morgantown, requested and was granted a release from his NLI.
He left the door open for a return to the West Virginia recruiting class as Ross Hodge took the reins of the program, but Duke, Kentucky, Pitt, and Virginia Tech landed on his top 5 as well.
Ultimately, Hawthorne committed to Mark Pope and the Wildcats. He becomes the fourth player to pledge to the Wildcats for the 2025 recruiting class, joining Overtime Elite’s Jasper Johnson, in-state big man Malachi Moreno, and Croatian power forward Andrija Jelavic. The Wildcats are also set to bring in 6 players from the transfer portal, including Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama).
Below, you can take a look at some of Hawthorne’s high school highlights:
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
