Louisville gets positive on Pat Kelsey’s undisputed top recruiting priority

Pat Kelsey led an immediate turnaround at Louisville, a 19-win improvement in Year 1 with a veteran-laden roster constructed through the transfer portal. Now, he has the program positioned to potentially land the No. 1 high school player in the 2026 class, Tyran Stokes. 

Stokes, a Louisville native, included the Cardinals in his top 5, which he announced on ESPN on Tuesday. Kelsey now has to beat out Kansas, Oregon, Kentucky, and USC to land his commitment and officially establish his program as one of the country’s premier destinations. 

Tyran Stokes features Louisville in his loaded top 5

Stokes wasn’t the only 2026 five-star that Kelsey was after. He began the cycle with point guard Taylen Kinney as another of his top targets, but lost out to Kansas in a hotly contested recruitment. Missing out on both Kinney and Stokes would be a devastating blow to the program, especially considering Stokes’ proximity, having grown up in Louisville. 

Kelsey has already made a significant splash in the high school recruiting trail since taking over the program. Five-star point guard Mikel Brown Jr. headlined the Cardinals' 2025 recruiting class and could be the program’s first true one-and-done NBA prospect in years. 

Many of the top programs in recent seasons have gone away from the one-and-done approach, favoring veteran rosters constructed through the portal. Still, if you strike the right balance of young talent and experience, which Kelsey has cultivated for this upcoming season, you can win big. Not a single freshman saw the floor in the most recent National Championship Game between Florida and Houston, but Duke nearly knocked off the Cougars in the Final Four with Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Khaman Maluach leading the way. 

While Louisville may have the perfect ecosystem for Stokes to thrive in his brief stop before the NBA, landing his commitment is more complicated than that. 

Nike could swing Stokes away from Louisville and Kansas

Stokes was recently announced as part of Nike’s 2026 NIL class, a lucrative deal that could be a death knell for Louisville’s pursuit of the homegrown talent. As Adidas schools, Louisville and Kansas are almost certainly at the bottom of the pecking order for Stokes, who will seemingly favor Nike-sponsored programs like Kentucky, USC, or the company’s flagship collegiate enterprise, the Oregon Ducks.