Announcement: Top-Ranked Power Forward Comes Home.Mark Pope is recruiting him to Kentucky

Like so many of his peers during this period of their lives, the summer between the sophomore and junior years of high school has been one of change for Tyran Stokes.

The 6’7, 245-pound power forward Stokes is ranked #1 by 247Sports Composite among boys basketball players in the class of 2026. This ranking comes with both praise and criticism.

Despite being thrown into unfamiliar circumstances, Stokes—a native of Louisville who lived in Derby City until he was nine years old—has lived up to that reputation.

Stokes recently had a taste of elite international basketball experience when he competed for the United States in the 2024 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Turkey, where he took home a gold medal.

Over the course of seven games, Stokes averaged 12.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.9 steals as the United States easily won the championship.

As a result of this experience, Stokes was able to play the 3 and 4 positions in addition to point guard.

Stokes remarked on Thursday afternoon, following his team’s victory at Peach Jam, the season-ending Nike Elite Youth Basketball League event and recruiting showcase, with 24 points and 8 rebounds. “Getting used to being uncomfortable, that was the biggest thing,” Stokes said.

The 16-year-old Stokes experienced new things on that worldwide World Cup journey, such as learning how to fit his bulky physique into a twin-sized bed, overcoming the language barrier in Turkey, and adjusting to the local cuisine.

“Just becoming familiar with Turkish history.” We toured a few museums that had a wide variety of antiques and other items, according to Stokes. “Different cuisines and their cultural origins.”

Stokes will soon undergo another basketball change domestically when he transfers from Prolific Prep (Napa, California) to Notre Dame, a high school located in the Sherman Oaks region of Los Angeles.

Naturally, the early phases of a competitive college basketball recruiting cycle, which includes prestigious universities in the sport, provide the background for all of this.

You can count the Kentucky Wildcats among that bunch.

UK first offered Stokes a scholarship last November. He was the first, and only, class of 2026 prospect to earn a UK scholarship offer while John Calipari led the Wildcats. Still, Stokes remains the only class of 2026 recruit to hold a Kentucky offer.

New Kentucky coach Mark Pope has picked up right where Calipari left off in terms of recruiting Stokes to Lexington.

“(Pope) is telling me how the brand is out there. Coach Mark is telling me it would be good to be home … Great coach,” Stokes said.

A little more than three months have passed since Pope became UK’s coach, and he and his coaching staff have already made their presence felt on the recruiting trail.

This has included multiple viewings of Stokes on the Nike EYBL circuit and an international trip to Turkey to watch Stokes, among other recruits, at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup.

“We both have a lot of energy,” Stokes said of himself and Pope. “He’s just always talking about how I can improve. Just telling me, ‘Oh yeah, you’re good at this, good at that.’ Telling me you can improve on this and those type of things.”

Kentucky is far from the only top college program laying early groundwork in Stokes’ recruitment.

Stokes listed Arkansas (the new home for Calipari and several ex-UK assistants), Kansas, Southern California and UCLA among the schools he’s hearing from the most right now, in addition to Kentucky.

Hometown school Louisville is also in on Stokes, with the class of 2026 prospect specifying that U of L assistant coach Ronnie Hamilton is leading the charge for new head coach Pat Kelsey’s staff.

How much does a return to the commonwealth for college appeal to Stokes?

“Most of my family lives in Louisville … I mean, it’s home, it plays some type of part,” Stokes said.

There’s also been some early reclassification talk with Stokes, who has played up age levels on the grassroots circuit for several years and clearly has the skill to make the jump from the 2026 to 2025 recruiting groups, if he wants to.