One of Kentucky’s early targets from the class of 2015 is Luke Kennard, a 4-star shooting guard out of Franklin, Ohio. The 6’5 guard is currently ranked as the 21st best player in the class AND he has Kentucky ties. Mark Kennard is Luke’s father and he played college basketball in Central Kentucky. Kennard already has a ton of offers from a variety of big-time programs, including Duke, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Kennard’s father spoke to Larry Vaught on WLAP 630 this morning and brought up a few interesting tidbits about his son and his recruitment.
“Luke is a versatile player. He can use either hand. I think that’s why a lot of college coaches like him.”
“When he was 4 or 5 years old, he would play in kindergarten leagues. He’d always use his left hand. He was all left-handed. I told my wife one day, we’re gonna fix that. So we’d go up to this school close to our house, we’d work on it 3 days a week. We did that all summer. Most of the time, I would make him dribble all the way home. Once again, he was 4 or 5 years old. I’d make him dribble all the way home with his right hand. I’m in the truck following him.”
Mark Kennard talked about the unofficial visit to Lexington earlier this summer. “The visit was great. Obviously Kentucky is Kentucky. The tradition is unbelievable. The facilities are first class. Coach Calipari has done a tremendous job wherever he’s been at. Plus, he’s a great player developer. He didn’t put any pressure on him. He said if you know where you wanna go, let’s go ahead and get it done. He (Cal) was very complimentary of Luke. I think he’s excited to have Luke and Luke was excited. We’re excited. Luke’s been blessed and we’re very excited that Kentucky wants him.”
Kennard’s father said that they would like to have the decision made by the end of Luke’s junior year (probably April or May).
Mark Kennard also discussed that it’s tough to separate his family’s love of Kentucky from the recruiting process. He mentioned more than once that “Kentucky is Kentucky.” He also mentioned that Luke grew up idolizing Tayshaun Prince. The elder Kennard also believes that Luke fits Calipari’s system, considering his high school team ran the dribble drive offense. “Luke can get to the basket and he can shoot from the outside. He can play the 1, 2 or the 3. But that’s Luke’s game, getting up and down the court and just playing. It’s a system that I definitely think Luke would fit. I know he really enjoys watching Kentucky play and Coach Calipari.”
*BONUS: Luke Kennard is also a big-time high school football player. His father didn’t completely rule out the possibility of Luke playing both in college, but did say that playing both would be very tough and that he expects Luke will stick with basketball.