Recruiting expert gives Louisville the edge over Kentucky for Tay Kinney

The Cards appear to be the ‘current’ leaders for this 5-star recruit, but don’t count out the Cats just yet.

As Tay Kinney‘s recruitment heats up, the Louisville Cardinals and the Kentucky Wildcats are widely seen as the top competitors for this Bluegrass product.

Kinney recently visited Louisville and is now coming off a trip to UK.

So, where do things stand now that Kinney has visited both of the perceived favorites in his recruitment?

On3’s Joe Tipton is giving the Cards the early edge, but he’s not counting out the Cats.

“As of right now, I would currently give Louisville the edge in his recruitment. He did visit Kentucky this week so it’ll be interesting to see if Mark Pope was able to make up ground. I still think UK is a very real player,” wrote Tipton.

One significant factor in this recruitment is that Kinney recently signed a branding deal with Adidas. While the deal only runs through high school, it gives Adidas an early connection with the 5-star guard that could lead to another deal being made for his college career.

Louisville is one of the top Adidas schools, so if Kinney sticks with that brand for college, the Cards obviously have a great shot at landing him over UK.

One thing going in the Cats’ favor is that Kinney, a native of Newport (KY), now plays for Overtime Elite. That league has recently produced several Wildcats, including Rob Dillingham and Jasper Johnson, the latter of whom Kinney was teammates with last season.

The current plan is for Kinney to make his college choice before his senior campaign begins this fall, so we may not have to wait much longer to see who wins out.

Let’s see if Mark Pope can beat out Pat Kelsey for this 5-star prospect.

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