After committing to the Wildcats over three months ago, five-star center Malachi Moreno has officially signed with the program.

“Growing up in Kentucky, you always wanted to put on that Kentucky uniform,” Moreno said of his commitment. “Just being able to go there and wear ‘Kentucky’ across my chest means the world to me.”

The 2025 Great Crossing High School (Georgetown, KY) standout is now inked in to play college basketball in Lexington next year, backing his verbal commitment back in August. While no one even remotely thought that his signing wouldn’t take place following his announcement, it’s still great to see it happening. Being the foundation of the first Kentucky recruiting class for Mark Pope, it’s very beneficial to lock up the homegrown talent that understand what this program is all about. Malachi was the first pledge of the Mark Pope era (recruiting wise), starting that trend of picking right back up on being able to secure the top talent like the last coach could, but into this new chapter of the program.

“I believe that Malachi Moreno is the best center in the country in this class,” Kentucky men’s basketball head coach Mark Pope said. “He is an elite-level passer with incredible tracking vision. He has a ferocity around the rim in terms of ball protection and he is willing to engage physically. He is going to grow into an elite-level shooter. And, more important than all of those incredible things, is that he gets a little teary-eyed when he walks into Rupp Arena because he knows what this place is.”

Joining Malachi Moreno in his class is Woodford County native and current OTE basketball player, Jasper Johnson, the nation’s third-best point guard according to 247Sports. With the two in-state talents locked down, Pope would go out and secure his first out-of-state recruit in combo guard, Acaden Lewis, a four-star pledge from Sidwell Friends School. With the additions of Moreno, Johnson, and Lewis, the 2025 Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting class sits at third in the country.

We’ve been grateful to build a great relationship with Malachi Moreno since last summer, having him join our basketball podcast multiple times. Although these interviews are a little outdated by this point, we recommend going back and watching them to truly get to see the personality side of Malachi and how great of a young human being he really is. Fans are going to absolutely love him once he gets to campus but watching these clips now will expedite that process for you, no doubt.

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