Official: Mark pope Kentucky offers serious competition” for a top hot shooting guard wanted by 11 high class team including Arizona State ” he could prefer Mark pope coaching style as he tend to keep growing….
For the 2026 class, Kentucky has extended a scholarship offer to one of the top ten prospects. During a visit to Fairfax (Va.) Paul VI Catholic on Monday, UK head coach Mark Pope made an offer to Jordan Smith, a 5-star junior.
Smith (6-3, 195) is rated by the industry average 247Sports Composite rankings as the No. 3 shooting guard and No. 7 talent overall in the 2026 class.
The Wildcats join an early offer sheet for Smith, which also includes the likes of Arizona State, Duke, Florida State, Georgetown, Houston, Kansas State, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Providence, Syracuse, Villanova and Virginia Tech among others.
In recent years, Paul VI Catholic has produced a large number of standout college basketball players, such as Marcus Derrickson (Georgetown), Josh Reaves (Penn State), Trevor Keels (Duke), Jeremy Roach (Duke/Baylor), and Patrick Ngongba (Duke).
Smith is scheduled to take an unofficial visit to Duke later this month.
Playing for Team Takeover on the Nike EYBL travel circuit, Smith averaged 12.9 points, five-rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 74.5% from the field and 66.7% from 3-point range at Peach Jam in July, where he was named “Top Dog” by 247Sports national recruiting analyst Travis Branham.
“The “Top Dog” distinction goes to the toughest competitor. A guy who can dominate a game by doing the small things and dirty work. With that in mind, there’s no one more fitting of this accolade than Jordan Smith Jr.,” Branham wrote
At Peach Jam, Smith proved multiples times that he could use his strong, wiry frame, athleticism and toughness to impact the win column.In fact, his presence helped his team get to the tournament’s final four. Smith oozes with winning intangibles and makes for the best perimeter defender in the country.”
Smith is the eighth member of the 2026 recruiting class to receive a scholarship offer from Kentucky.
