Jayden Quaintance has committed to UK for a second time. (UK Athletics Photo)
It made sense for Kentucky coach Mark Pope to reach out to signee Jasper Johnson when UK was reaching out to Arizona State transfer Jayden Quaintance, a five-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class who originally committed to the Cats before changing his mind after John Calipari left.
Johnson and the 6-10 Quaintance were teammates on the same AAU team during the summer of 2023 and have remained friends.
Johnson played this season at Overtime Elite and Pope is counting on him to play a major role next season because of his versatile skill set at guard, including his shotmaking ability. One of his Kentucky teammates now will be Quaintance, who committed to UK Tuesday.
Johnson’s father, Dennis, a former UK/NFL player who is now the head football coach at Woodford County High School, loved everything about Quaintance’s play during the AAU season with his son two years ago.
“When we first went to Team Thad, the first time I saw this kid (Quaintance) he just dominated and I went up and shook his hand. That’s how good I thought he was,” Dennis Johnson said then. “He’s a very skilled big guy to be so young (16).
“He can shoot. He can dribble. I have not seen a kid like that in a long time. He is 6-10 with a great body for a kid only 16 years old. He is going to be a phenomenal talent.”
Others agree because Quaintance, who played his freshman season at age 17, is ranked as one of the top players in the transfer portal and a top prospect in the 2026 NBA draft.
Dennis Johnson thought two years ago that Quaintance could guard anyone from a two guard to center and had “no glaring weakness” with the way he could shoot, rebound, dribble and fit into various systems.
Quaintance reclassified from the 2025 to the 2024 recruiting class so he could start his college career last season. He averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game last season when he shot 52.5 percent from the field. He was named to the Big 12 Conference All-Freshman and All-Defensive teams. He started all 24 games and averaged 29.7 minutes per contest.
He was also the youngest player in college basketball last season.
Quaintance injured his knee in February and had surgery on March 19 to repair a torn ACL. He told Kentucky Sports Radio Tuesday that is ahead of schedule with his rehab and expects to be cleared to return to full workouts in September.
15 Responses
I would be more excited if he was healthy. When will he be able to play and at what level will he be able to play? ACL tears take a full year to heal completely, but then the athlete has to get back into playing shape, get his feel for the game again, but most importantly they have to gain the confidence that they can play again at 100% without worrying about getting hurt again. His injury was in February; do the math.
I’m excited regardless his status. The man will be clear by September and he be in shape by conference play or sooner.
The only thing that worries me in today’s game is everyone can say you will be cleared on this date but he won’t be cleared until he feels 100%. During the calapari years alot of players who knew they were going pro would stretch there injuries out the whole year. I don’t think he does this because he knows he needs to have a monster year to be a top 5 draft pick. The great part is he plays for Kentucky and he will make Garrison and Moreno much better having to go up against his long arms and blocking shots in practice. He’s the type of guy who makes everyone better. Also I see someone leaving from this Kentucky team maybe in the portal because some guys who played last year because of injuries won’t play this year except mop up minutes
He’s not 7 feet tall but I’ve stood next to him and he takes up ALOT of space. Sometimes that’s worth more than being tall. Research Popeye Jones. And, everyone remembers Charles Barkley. They were terrific rebounders and players.
He’s only 18 and they can recover quickly.
I agree that we don’t anymore Ethiopian marathon runners. Skinny doest work well in the SEC.
He will recover very quickly the younger you are the less it affects you and he’s still 17.
Careful. Don’t be a Rah Rah.
He is the best big man in the portal. He has the most upside of any big in college basketball. Yes he has ACL injury but its not like the 80s were the procedure was brutal. Today they are handled very easy and he’s only 17 years old his knee will mend together rather quickly. I don’t see him being ready in September I’m thinking more along the lines of late October early november. By late November early december he hits his 100% healthy point and starts playing full contact during the late part of non conference by the time we get into SEC play he will be the most dominant big man in college basketball. He is up there with Anthony Davis Nerlens Noel and KAT as far as big man go and I think he’s a little more stronger than all these guys were during there college days. Remember he’s a power forward. Garrison and Moreno will be the 5s the Alabama transfer and JQ will be the 4s with I think all these guys rotating to find the best lineup available. I see PG Lowe/Lewis/Perry SGOweh/Chandler/Johnson SF Dioubate/Williams/Noah PF JQ/Dioubate C Garrison/Moreno as my starting 5 and backups at this point. You could swap Johnson for Chandler as well. Depends on who plays better defense they will be a toss up on offense. I also think Chandler takes a giant step forward this year. He was a top 30 recruit.I think we are good on bugs unless we go for a stretch 4 or another point guard. We have a ton of shooters. If Lowe gets injured or Lewis gets injured we won’t be deep at the PG position. Also if it takes JQ longer to get back 100% we will be thin in the front court. So we need one of the two a 4 or a 1 in my eyes. I don’t know why everyone thinks we need a shooter. We have great shooters with less defense.
Is L finally up?….Has Kelsey out portaled the Pope meister? Getting credit for the #1 class. Say it ain’t so BBN!!
No team has hung a banner for any kind of #1 class.
With one spot left and the Pope is looking one more shooter does that mean Ament is no longer considered an option ? Think the kid made a big boo boo not coming on board earlier – oh well.
They actually have 3 scholarships left.
I’m going to put my faith in Coach Pope that if he didn’t feel like Jayden was going to be able to contribute this year he would’ve passed on him..
There is a coach that will bring in a player and let him use our facilities, get everyone’s hopes up and know that player won’t play one minute for our team.
I’m still thanking God those days are over.
Wilkerson or the kid from Spain would be the icing on the cake. You can’t go wrong with either guy even tho I think Wilkerson is much more of a scorer, you could get the kid from Spain for 2 years. Wilkerson is the best shooter in the transfer portal and can basically be your Kobe Brea this year but he’s much more athletic than Brea. With better defense. Like I said either one of these guys would be the icing on the cake. I still think at least one person transfers off the team. Everyone is saying Garrison but I could also see one of the 3 Perry Noah or Chandler either being there last year in Lexington or a late transfer. Especially if we get Wilkerson who will take Chandler Noah or Perry’s playing time. They won’t want to be buried at the end of the bench as Sophomores but who will they play over. There is already a log jam at shooting guard. Lowe/Lewis/Perry is set in stone at the point Oweh/Chandler/Johnson/Noah a shooting guard Diobote/Williams/Noah at the 3 JQ/Dioubote/Williams Garrison/Moreno. If we get Wilkerson he will back up Oweh if we get the kid from Spain he will backup JQ. His team is going to be so much better than Popes first team which I expected.
Mr. Johnson is probably a lot easier to impress then Ky fans 😁.