An Early Look at Louisville's 2025 Big Board
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - June 15 marked a big day in the men's college basketball recruiting world, as it was the first day in which coaches could directly reach out to prospects in the Class of 2025. Previously, coaches could only reach out to prospect via third parties.
Louisville head coach Kenny Payne and the rest of the Cardinals coaching staff certainly took advantage of the change in the recruiting calendar. Over the last several weeks and months, the program has reached out to several prospects in the class, and even extended a few scholarship offers.
The staff's activity since mid-June, and even before that, gives us a look as to what juniors-to-be Louisville is currently targeting and putting a priority on. Most of these recruits will not be giving verbal commits to a school for quite some time, and there are plenty of other targets Louisville is keeping tabs on, but let's take a lot at the Cardinals' top targets thus far in the Class of 2025:
*mobile users can scroll left and right on the table*
Point Guard | Shooting Guard | Small Forward | Power Forward | Center |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jeremiah Fears | Jerry Easter* | Chris Nwuli* | Francis Chukwudebelu | |
Meleek Thomas* | Bryce Heard | Nicholas Randall* | ||
Jasper Johnson* | E.J. Walker |
*Holds scholarship offer
Point Guard
Ever since he took the Louisville job, Payne has shown that he is incredibly choosy in who he decides to extend a scholarship to. That being said, he hasn't been afraid to go after the big fish. Midland (Penn.) Lincoln Park's Meleek Thomas was offered back in April, and is regarded as the No. 5 prospect in the class by the 247Sports Composite. Another option at the point for the Cards could be Chandler (Ariz.) Compass Prep's Jeremiah Fears, who Louisville reached out to on the first day of the 2025 contact period.
Shooting Guard
Thomas is the highest-ranked prospect that currently holds a scholarship offer, but shooting guard Jasper Johnson might be their top target in the entire class. He's in Louisville's backyard, playing his high school ball at Woodford County (KY.) Versailles, and is also the No. 19 prospect in the cycle. Two additional early two guard targets are La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere's Jerry Easter and Chicago (Ill.) Montverde Academy' Bryce Heard. Easter is the No. 29 overall prospect and has held a Louisville offer since last October, and Heard is the 44th-ranked prospect who also heard from the Cardinals on the first day of the contact period.
Power Forward
Payne hasn't targeted a lot of high school big men since he took over the Cardinals, but that is starting to change in this cycle. Both St. Louis (Mo.) Vashon's Nicholas Randall and Mount Pleasant (Utah) Wasatch Academy's Chris Nwuli hold Louisville offers, with the latter coming in as a top-25 prospect. A local kid to watch is E.J. Walker, an unranked prospect who plays not too far from Louisville at Lloyd (Ky.) Erlanger, and who also heard from the staff last month. Time will tell how involved the staff gets here.
Center
Only one center is currently being targeted by Louisville at this point, but it's a big target. The Cardinals reached out to Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy's Francis Chukwudebelu on the first day of the contact period, who comes in as the No. 37 overall prospect.
(Photo of Jasper Johnson via A Sea of Blue)
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