Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope talks about his roster during a press conference on May 13, 2025, in Lexington.
Taylen Kinney’s basketball recruitment has come to an end.
The Northern Kentucky native is now set to begin his college career in the Big 12 at a blue blood school.
On Sunday afternoon, Kinney — a 6-foot-3 point guard and consensus five-star recruit in the high school senior class — committed to head coach Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks. Kinney committed to Kansas during a live-streamed commitment ceremony from his hometown of Newport, Kentucky.
The 247Sports Composite ranks Kinney as the No. 17 national prospect in the 2026 recruiting class. He’s the first class of 2026 prospect to commit to the Jayhawks for next season.
Overall, Kinney is just the third top-20 recruit to pledge to a school in this recruiting cycle. He joins guard Jason Crowe Jr. (Missouri) and small forward JJ Andrews (Arkansas).
Kinney chose Kansas from a final shortlist of six schools that also included Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville and Oregon. Kinney took official recruiting visits to each of his finalists.
“Coach Self told me I was going to get to play right when I stepped in. I was going to be the man. He threw me the keys and said ‘This is my team next year,’” Kinney said after committing to Kansas during a ceremony at Newport High School that was shown on the CBS Sports College Basketball YouTube channel. “… (The Kansas official visit) was just different than every other school.”
Kinney said he plans to be a leader once he steps on campus for the Jayhawks.
“Fast-paced offense, a winning attitude, just a good point guard,” Kinney said of what he plans to bring to Kansas.
Kinney gives Kansas a talented guard to build around in the 2026 class. He’s known as a consistent scorer who also has the ability to play off the ball on offense while also making an impact defensively.
“He’s a capable shooter from behind the arc and an acrobatic finisher (who is) capable of finishing from absolutely insane angles around the rim,” Zach Welch, an analyst for Pro Insight Basketball, said of Kinney. “Considering this immense scoring prowess, along with his sound decision-making, ability to play on or off the ball and defensive competitiveness, Kinney becomes one of the more intriguing guards in the class.”
By spurning both Kentucky and Louisville for Kansas, Kinney is eschewing the chance to play college basketball in his home state.
Kinney began his prep basketball career at Newport, before transferring to the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite program for his junior and senior seasons. Before that move, Kinney played three varsity seasons at Newport as an eighth grader, freshman and sophomore. He totaled 1,220 points over those three campaigns.
Newport enjoyed plenty of team success with Kinney on its roster. Kinney was an all-state performer for the Wildcats and led the school to appearances in the Sweet 16 state tournament in 2023 and 2024. Newport also won the small-school All “A” Classic state championship in 2024 with Kinney.
UK and Louisville both dedicated ample recruiting resources to try and land Kinney. Kentucky’s recruiting involvement with Kinney began in 2023 when John Calipari led the UK program, and it continued into the Mark Pope coaching era. Pope offered Kinney a UK scholarship in August 2024, and Pope provided on-court instruction to Kinney this past summer at a USA Basketball training camp in Colorado.
Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals were, at one point, viewed as the favorite to land Kinney, who already boasts an NIL endorsement deal with Adidas, the apparel brand that outfits both Kansas and U of L.
But neither commonwealth school was able to bring Kinney home for college. Both Kentucky and Louisville are still without a commitment from the high school senior class.
Kentucky now has 19 scholarship offers out to uncommitted players in the 2026 recruiting group.
Class of 2026 college basketball recruit Taylen Kinney is a five-star point guard prospect.
Class of 2026 college basketball recruit Taylen Kinney is a five-star point guard prospect. NBPA
Taylen Kinney to play college basketball at Kansas
Kinney is now set to bring his outsized persona, both on and off the floor, to Kansas for at least the 2026-27 season.
Last season as a junior at Overtime Elite, Kinney averaged 20.1 points, 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals during the regular season while playing on the same team as incoming UK freshman Jasper Johnson.
Kinney also further cultivated his online brand: He now has more than 1.3 million social media followers combined on Instagram and TikTok, along with his own canned water brand. Kinney’s social media stardom is the result of the “6-7” meme, which he popularized.
Kinney is viewed as a capable combo guard at the college level. His ceiling would be even higher with some refinements to his game. Last season at Overtime Elite, Kinney shot a combined 34.5% on 3-pointers (30 of 87) in regular season and postseason play.
“While Kinney is already a strong passer and solid floor spacer, further honing both of these areas of his game would help him level up further as a prospect,” Welch said. “… Becoming even more of a threat from behind the arc would make him more lethal attacking downhill, opening up more opportunities for him and his whole team.”
Kinney will be hoping to lead an on-court resurgence for Self and the Jayhawks.
Kansas has found itself in a relative dry spell in recent seasons. Since winning the 2022 NCAA Tournament, the Jayhawks have gone a combined 72-32 (69.2%) over the past three seasons. Kansas hasn’t reached the Sweet 16 stage of the NCAA Tournament since that 2022 title run.
Early Bracketology projections from ESPN have Kansas as a 5 seed in this season’s NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks will be led this season by star freshman guard Darryn Peterson, who was the No. 2 recruit in the nation this year and is expected to be a lottery pick in the 2026 NBA draft.
After beginning his high school basketball career at Newport, Taylen Kinney transferred to the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite program for his junior and senior seasons.
After beginning his high school basketball career at Newport, Taylen Kinney transferred to the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite program for his junior and senior seasons. Overtime Elite