Recruiting expert has high praise for JJ Traynor, who’s planning on fall decision

247 Sports recruiting guru Evan Daniels has some high praise for Bardstown native JJ Traynor.

Traynor, the No. 76 player in the country, has been making waves this summer, jumping from unranked to a top 100 recruit. He’s also jumped onto Kentucky’s radar in the process, and he’s set to take a visit to Lexington for Big Blue Madness.

Daniels was on Kentucky Roll Call Thursday morning, and he discussed Traynor’s play, even calling the four-star recruit one of the biggest sleepers in the country.

“I think he (Traynor) is a tremendous talent,” said Daniels. I’ve said this multiple times. I think he’s one of the biggest sleepers in the country, certainly the biggest sleeper I saw all July. I think he’s got tremendous physical tools. He was just measured in at 6-8.5, a 7-2 wingspan, has a 32-inch standing vertical. All the physical tools are there, and the game is coming. He’s just taking big strides. He just turned 17 last week, so he’s still pretty young, and his game is starting to develop.”

Traynor has yet to earn an offer from the Kentucky Wildcats, but with him poised for a huge senior season, perhaps John Calipari will offer the best in-state talent yet again (Dontaie Allen) and keep a really good player home.

However, Kentucky likely won’t have the benefit of waiting until seeing more of Traynor in his final high school season. In an interview with Cardinal Authority, Traynor said he wants to commit and sign his national letter of intent in November.

“Me and my mom want to get the decision over with by the November (signing) period,” he said. “We are considering some schools right now. But the bigger schools that came in late, we want to give them a shot too.”

With Kentucky in the mix for 2020 bigs Isaiah Todd, Greg Brown and Isaiah Jackson while already holding a pledge from four-star forward Lance Ware, it’s getting hard to see an offer coming this fall for Traynor.

It would be unfortunate to let a promising in-state recruit like Traynor slip away, but these types of decisions are why John Calipari is paid millions to run the best program in college basketball. Let’s just hope he makes the right call on Traynor, whatever that may be.