Senior Guard Brennan Canada Placed on Scholarship

The Bluegrass native was touted as an "unbelievable teammate" by coach John Calipari on Monday evening.

After three and a half years and seven semesters at the University of Kentucky, senior guard Brennan Canada has been rewarded by being placed on scholarship by UK and coach John Calipari. 

When you talk about what we look for in young people in this program, @brennanc14 embodies it all. Unbelievable teammate and student and has brought so much to our teams in practice.

I think it’s about time we put him on scholarship!! Thank you for what you do for us, Brennan!!

— John Calipari (@CoachCalArk) January 2, 2023

"When you talk about what we look for in young people in this program, he embodies it all," Calipari said of Canada in a tweet. "Unbelievable teammate and student and has brought so much to our teams in practice. I think it’s about time we put him on scholarship!! Thank you for what you do for us, Brennan!!" 

Hailing from Mount Sterling, Ky, Canada attended George Rogers Clark High School, where he totaled 1,371 points and 776 rebounds. He was a three-time All-District Team selection and a three-time All-District Tournament Team pick. 

Over his time at UK, Canada has played in 18 total games. He scored his first career points against Central Michigan at home in the 2021-22 season. It's what he's done for the Wildcats on the court in practice — among other things — that led Calipari to honor the guard with a scholarship: 

“Here’s a young man that’s played every position. He is an unbelievable teammate and he is a good player — he’s just behind some other really good players," Calipari said on his call-in radio show on Monday night. "He’s good, can shoot it, is tough, is smart.”

The only issue is...Kentucky didn't get the joy-filled moment announcing the news on video:

“When I went to a team meeting and I called him up and said, ‘You’re getting a scholarship,’ the team went nuts,” Calipari said. “We should have had it on video but it was within our team and everybody was hooting and hollering and screaming and he was happy and thankful. It’s great that we can do that." 

Canada would join the radio show, adding that the news left him speechless: 

“The team was celebrating and stuff, it was a good moment.”

Calipari also added that the scholarship is retroactive, meaning it is worth a full year and will extend into the summer. Canada is now officially the 12th member of the 2022-23 roster to be on scholarship.