Duke’s Jon Scheyer Suffers Major Recruiting Loss on Tuesday

Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils coaching staff have been busy recruiting this spring. They’ve been working to land players for the 2025-26 season and also checking the transfer portal, evaluating talent nationwide and making strong offers to fill key roster needs.

On Tuesday, the Blue Devils received some disappointing news. A top recruit they were pursuing has decided to play college basketball elsewhere, despite Duke's strong interest and multiple conversations.

Joe Tipton of On3 Sports reported the latest recruiting development, which deals a significant blow to Duke.

"Braydon Hawthorne, On3’s No. 35 overall recruit in the 2025 class, has committed to Kentucky, he announced," Tipton said.

Hawthorne, a highly regarded four-star recruit, is one of the best remaining high school prospects. The 6-foot-8 small forward chose Kentucky over offers from Duke, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech. A standout at Huntington Prep, Hawthorne initially committed to West Virginia but reopened his recruitment after head coach Darian DeVries left the program.

Eric Bossi, 247Sports National Basketball Director, recently shared high praise for Hawthorne’s potential.

“The reason I’m so high on him is not for what he might do as a freshman. I’m thinking long-term—three, five, even seven years down the road," Bossi said.

Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer.

Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Duke will also start the 2025-26 season without the services of Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Khaman Maluach, Tyrese Proctor and Sion James. They all either chose the 2025 NBA Draft or are out of eligibility.

Despite missing out on Hawthorne, Scheyer still has an impressive class coming in. They are currently only behind Houston and Arizona in the 247Sports rankings.

The headliners are twins Cameron and Cayden Boozer from Columbus High School in Miami, Florida. Cameron is a 6-foot-9 power forward, and Cayden is a 6-foot-4 point guard. The class also includes Nikolas Khamenia, a skilled forward from Harvard-Westlake in California. Dame Sarr is another name that Scheyer and his staff are targeting. It was announced Tuesday that the Blue Devils were the favorite to land Sarr.

Hawthorne joins Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno—both four-star prospects—who are also headed to Lexington this fall as part of Kentucky’s loaded class.