John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats are hard at work on their 2016 recruiting class after edging out Duke for the number one class in 2015. Kentucky recently got a commitment from power forward Sacha Killeya-Jones who is a four-star power forward and now they have also gotten a commitment from Wenyen Gabriel a five-star power forward from Manchester, New Hampshire he announced on ESPN.
Gabriel was one of the fastest risers in the 2016 class as he came out of almost nowhere to become a consensus top 20 recruit. A few months earlier it appeared that Duke might be the favorite to land Gabriel but after he took his official visits he knew becoming a Wildcat was the right call for him.
"I like Kentucky, what took them over the top was their approach to me and how Calipari took the recruiting into his own hands. The whole time it was me and him. That won me over. Their pitch to me was I got to go there and do what I do best, go there, play defense, block shots, bring energy and just do what I do. I don't have to worry about playing out of my comfort zone," said Gabriel, according to Evan Daniels of Scout.com.
Scout has Gabriel ranked as the number ten recruit overall and the third best power forward in the 2016 recruiting class. Scouts say his best asset is his motor but he also has plenty of skill and should be able to make an enormous impact immediately when he steps on the court at Kentucky. Gabriel is 6 foot-10 and will need to put on some weight to be able to hang at the next level but that shouldn't be a problem once he gets on a training program.
Gabriel is Kentucky's third commit for 2016 following Killeya-Jones and Tai Wynyard. Wynyard is not expected to enroll until December though. Gabriel and Killeya-Jones both are considered power forwards but Jones is also 6 foot-11 and would likely be able to handle playing center so the two of them could probably play together at Kentucky. Both Killeya-Jones and Gabriel are considered raw prospects who need more polish and neither may be a one-and-done player, according to Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports.
Gabriel's commitment brings Kentucky up to the number two recruiting class in the nation for 2016 just behind Duke for now. There are still plenty of players to come off the board, many of which Kentucky is recruiting, but for now they appear to be putting together another great recruiting class.
