It’s not a commitment, however it is nice to hear that there will be at least some continuity for next season’s roster.
The Kentucky redshirt freshman spoke with the Lexington Herald-Leader prior to Kentucky’s season finale against the Florida Gators on Saturday, and he was asked about his future with the program as the postseason nears. The local newspaper directly asked him if he expected to be back in Lexington again next season and his response was an emphatic head nod followed with, “Yeah, for sure.”
In this day and age of college athletics it is rare to see someone with the recruiting profile of Hawthorne’s to be willing to take a redshirt role with no real injury forcing it. With that being said, he did early last fall and has been watching from the bench the entire season.
Braydon was ranked the 33rd best player in the country by 247Sports for the class of 2025, as well as, the best player in the entire state of West Virginia by their system. He was a highly sought after recruit and Kentucky’s original committed from him was big news at the time. He took visits to Duke, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Pittsburgh, but ultimately chose Lexington for his college destination on May 20th.
Although we don’t for sure know what Hawthorne’s true potential is since we haven’t seen him on the floor once in an actual game, it is still nice to have some consistency with the roster going into next season and it will be nice to have a wing with his size (6’8″) to produce.
When he first arrived on campus, he did appear to be a little bit under-sized in the weight department, only weighing 173 pounds. However, after working with the training staff through the summer and throughout this season, the last time he weighed in he was at around 192 pounds. Assuming that is a lot of built muscle weight, that is a lot closer to what he needs to be at with his tall and long frame. That will also help with the physicality it takes to play in the SEC week in and week out as he preps to play in 2026-27.
When Hawthorne was asked how redshirting this season will help him next year, he said, “I feel like it’s going to be great. Because I feel like I will be a step ahead of everybody next year, knowing the system and everything else. As soon as we get back on campus, I feel like that puts me in a great spot — just knowing the system already.”
Now, a lot can happen between now and the beginning of next season with who comes in and who exits the program, but this is definitely welcomed news as currently Kentucky has no incoming freshmen for the class of 2026. If Kentucky can retain some of this year’s roster production from guys like Collin Chandler, Malachi Moreno, and Kam Williams, along with Braydon Hawthorne returning, that could be solid foundation to build off of going into the offseason.
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