One of Kentucky’s 2026 recruiting targets has set a commitment date

Joe Tipton of On3 just announced that five-star Tay Kinney is set to pick his college on September 28th. The schools Kinney is picking between are Kentucky, Louisville, Indiana, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oregon.

Early into this recruiting battle, it seemed like the Kentucky Wildcats were in a really good spot with the Newport, Kentucky native, but things have faded over the last few months. It now seems like Kansas or Louisville is the lean for Kinney, with the Jayhawks having a slight lead.
It is a little frustrating to think that a five-star Kentucky native isn’t going to be playing for Mark Pope, but recently the Wildcats have been rolling out the red carpet for Deron Rippey Jr., another five-star guard in the class.
Fans can rest assured that the Wildcats are going to land an elite point guard in the 2026 class. It will be interesting to see if the Wildcats make some kind of push toward Kinney over the next few weeks, or they put everything they have into Rippey Jr.
The Wildcats are still in a really good spot with the #1 player in the class, Tyran Stokes, who, like Kinney, is a Kentucky native. The commitment for Kinney is coming up in a few weeks, but as of right now, it seems Kentucky is mostly out of this race.

Here is the scouting report on Kinney from Adam Finkelstein of 247Sports: “Kinney is a scoring and playmaking lead guard who is smooth and versatile with his attack. He’s a multi-level scoring threat with a creative and crisp handle to get to his advanced pull-up game or pressure the rim. He can rise up to finish when he has momentum, and also owns dexterity and touch as a lay-up maker. He’s a bit streakier from long-range, with a tendency to short arm that release more (33% in OTE & 27% in 3SSB), but plenty capable when in a good rhythm. While Kinney has trended towards more of a scoring lead guard recently, he also has good natural instincts as a passer, averaging 5 assists per game in both OTE & 3SSB. He’s great in drive-and-kick actions, can make pick-and-roll reads, and understands how to feed the post. He also has a pretty good feel, even while in attack mode, of how to utilize his versatility to make plays without pounding the ball or settling unnecessarily. Where he’s a little less natural at this point, is in the rare situation when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands.”