While Mark Pope has only been the Kentucky head coach since April, he’s already had plenty of big recruiting wins.

Pope now has the Wildcats in position to potentially land their biggest recruit thus far: Caleb Wilson, a 5-star forward ranked fifth overall in the 2025 class by 247 Sports Composite.

Just about every major college program has offered Wilson, who plays for Holy Innocents Episcopal School in Georgia. That includes the North Carolina Tar Heels, Kansas Jayhawks, Arkansas Razorbacks, Tennessee Volunteers, and Alabama Crimson Tide.

Recently, Kentucky has been picking up a lot of steam, though the Tar Heels have also gotten some buzz following a visit to Chapel Hill on October 5th.

There was a point when John Calipari and the Razorbacks were viewed as one of the top contenders, if not the outright favorite for Wilson. But one recruiting analyst thinks this has become a Tar Heels vs. Wildcats battle.

Rob Cassidy just did an update on Wilson, where the Rivals reporter tabbed this recruitment as a Kentucky vs. North Carolina battle. Cassidy also had some encouraging words for the Cats’ chances of landing the game-changing prospect.

Now, the Tar Heels must guard against losing another high-profile target to Kentucky, as UK and UNC appear to be the clear front-runners to land five-star forward Caleb Wilson. A Georgia-based star, Wilson appears to be trending toward Big Blue Nation, but the Tar Heels don’t seem interested in waving the white flag just yet. Wilson last toured Chapel Hill in early October for a one-day unofficial visit, which seems to have done little to create separation for Hubert Davis’ program.

No decision date has been set just yet, but there’s some confidence starting to radiate from the Kentucky side.

Sounds like Coach Pope has the Cats in a good spot heading down the stretch. Let’s see if he can finish this one off and get Wilson signed during the fall signing period.