Vernon Carey update: UK buzz growing, more visits set, and a decision timeline

Vernon Carey is a top 2 player in the 2019 recruiting class, depending on which service is ranking the players, and he is taking steps toward making a final decision.

Back in May, Carey announced that his top 5 potential colleges are the Kentucky Wildcats, Duke Blue Devils, Miami Hurricanes, Michigan State Spartans, and North Carolina Tar Heels.

As of Wednesday, he has announced his official visits for the fall.

It is often viewed as favorable if you are either first or last on the official visit tour. That could bode well for Kentucky in this situation (as well as with James Wiseman), as they are Carey’s first stop on October 12th for Big Blue Madness.

Kentucky getting the first visit with Carey is even more encouraging considering the buzz the Wildcats are getting from recruiting experts. Eric Bossi of Rivals wrote on Wednesday that Michigan State and Kentucky have “upset the apple cart” in Carey’s recruitment and that he no longer sees Duke as the favorite.

And on the heels of Carey announcing his official visits, recruiting analyst Dylan Prezkop of Next Up Recruits logged the first 247Sports Crystal Ball prediction for Kentucky on Wednesday morning. It certainly seems like this recruitment is swinging in Calipari’s direction, but there is still a lot of runway before we get to a final decision.

After visiting Lexington, Carey will then travel to Duke on October 19th, Miami on October 26th, and he will wrap up his fall visits at North Carolina on November 2nd.

Carey visited Michigan State back in February, but with changes in recruiting regulations he could potentially visit there again. Regulation changes have increased the number of college visits from 5 to 15 fora recruit, even permitting a player to visit the same school twice as long as it is not in the same calendar year. So it is certainly possible that he could take another look at Michigan State in early spring.

With Carey’s visits spreading into November and the possibility of taking more visits in the spring, it is likely we will not have a commitment from the 6’10” center until closer to the spring signing period in April. That would also give Carey a chance to see how rosters are shaping up for next season at the schools he is considering.

Take a look at what the lucky school will be getting when Carey makes his announcement.

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