Stokes Drops UCLA, Visiting Kentucky

Jarnell Stokes is no longer considering UCLA and is visiting Kentucky today, Scout.com reported.

The 6-foot-8 Stokes initially had Kentucky among his top six, but felt they weren’t recruiting him hard so he trimmed his list to five schools: Memphis, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida and UCLA.

He has already visited Memphis, Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida.

Now Kentucky has showed renewed interest in Stokes, the No. 5 power forward in the Class of 2012.

Stokes told Scout he is not close to making a decision, but doesn’t think he will wait past the fall signing period, which beings Nov. 9.

Kentucky is also involved with power forward Alex Poythress of Clarksville (Tenn.) Northeast, who is considering Kentucky, Florida, Memphis and Vanderbilt, and finished his last visit to Memphis two weekends ago.

Poythress’s AAU coach, Norm Parker, said Friday, “There’s not anything new. He has not set a date..”

Written by Adam Zagoria

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Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle. A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.