Over the past weekend, the focus of Kentucky basketball’s recruiting efforts for the 2027 class became much clearer. From Friday through Sunday, college coaches were allowed to evaluate top prospects competing on travel circuits during the May evaluation period. Kentucky deployed its entire current coaching staff in this effort, with head coach Mark Pope joined by assistants Mark Fox, Cody Fueger, Mikhail McLean, Mo Williams, and director of operations Nick Robinson on the road. Yet after reviewing which prospects the Wildcats watched, one detail stands out: CJ Rosser is a primary if not the top target for Kentucky in the 2027 recruiting cycle.
Rosser, a 6-foot-10 power forward originally from North Carolina, is currently ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the 2027 class by the 247Sports Composite, though several other players remain in contention for that spot.
Kentucky maintained a strong presence at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League grassroots event over the weekend, where Rosser played for his Team United squad. Fueger, McLean, Pope, and Williams were all in attendance, and each time Rosser who is averaging 12.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game through two EYBL sessions took the court, multiple UK coaches watched closely from the sideline. “I’ve got to improve on everything, for real,” Rosser told the Herald-Leader on Saturday. “Just keep working on my game… Just try and improve every day, get better every day.”
The Wildcats have already invested considerable energy and time in building a relationship with Rosser, who received his Kentucky scholarship offer in May 2025 the first 2027 player to earn one from UK. Since then, the Cats have offered 10 others. Kentucky has made its serious interest clear for a full year, including when McLean traveled internationally to watch Rosser win a gold medal with USA Basketball at the FIBA Under-16 Men’s AmeriCup in Mexico last summer. In February, the pursuit hit another milestone when Rosser took an unofficial visit to UK on Feb. 4, watching the Wildcats’ home win over Oklahoma.
Rosser has grown as a player during this year-long courtship. Before his junior year, he transferred from North Carolina to Southeastern Prep in Orlando, Florida. There, he shared the floor with several talented players who will face Kentucky next season, including five-star center Obinna Ekezie Jr. (a former UK target now headed to Louisville), five-star power forward Toni Bryant (a Missouri signee), and five-star small forward Jaxon Richardson (an Alabama commit). Beckham Black, the top-ranked point guard in the 2027 class and a major UK target, also plays at Southeastern. “Lifting a lot, the physicality and just getting to play all those games,” Rosser said of his development at Southeastern, which reached the championship game of its Grind Session league.
In April, the Herald-Leader asked Black about the fact that several Southeastern players including himself and Rosser are being recruited by the same college programs, like Kentucky. “We all kind of talk about it. What we’re looking for and where we want to go,” Black said. “Talk about what schools might be better for the different type of players that we are, so just little things like that.”
Kentucky is working to set itself apart in Rosser’s recruitment, as became evident in April when Pope and McLean took a recruiting trip to visit and go fishing with him. But Rosser is taking a patient approach, with plenty of other top schools also in the mix. High-major coaches who watched him play in Memphis over the weekend included representatives from Alabama, Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina, among others. Rosser noted that while the hype around his game can be both positive and negative, he focuses on a game-by-game approach to keep improving. “Really just going out and just trying to improve every game… Just go win,” Rosser said.
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