Mark Pope discusses possibility of burning Braydon Hawthorne’s redshirt
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Mark Pope had plenty of great things to talk about on Saturday afternoon in the aftermath of Kentucky‘s 5th straight SEC victory, a solid 72-63 win over Ole Miss at Rupp Arena that improved the Wildcats to 14-6 overall and 5-2 in the league.
That’s a pretty good place to be after an 0-2 start in conference play, when everybody was coming for Pope’s head, but it wasn’t all rosy during the postgame press conference when Pope was asked about freshman forward Braydon Hawthorne. The 6-8 West Virginia native has been dealing with calf issues, according to Pope, but when he was confronted by the question of burning Hawthorne’s redshirt and actually playing him this season, Pope had to dig in.
First of all, Pope revealed that the coaching staff has indeed had discussions about playing Hawthorne, who’s been sidelined all season after coming to Kentucky as a prized 4-star recruit in the 2025 cycle. It hasn’t gone according to plan so far for Hawthorne, but just maybe there’s a way to still get him on the court this season, Pope said.
“It’s something that certainly has been in discussion,” Pope told reporters. “There’s so many dynamics — most importantly, he’s gotta get healthy. Certainly, he’s an incredibly talented player.”
The Hawthorne saga will be something to watch going forward for Big Blue Nation, which right now has been reinvigorated with that 5-game win streak after the horrible start to SEC play.
Hawthorne’s well-being will be paramount to whether or not he gets on the court this season after coming to Lexington with such promise.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
