Calipari sticks to plan of visiting Razorbacks' priority targets on second day

Arkansas staffers made three key stops while on the road Thursday visiting key players they'd like for 2026 class

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari during summer practice at the Eddie Sutton Practice Court in Fayetteville, Ark. | Andy Hodges-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach John Calipari and associate head coach Chin Coleman worked their way from the gulf coast of Florida through Atlanta with a late stop in Little Rock on Thursday to see priority 2026 recruits.

Thursday was day two of the NCAA recruiting period that runs from Sept. 3, 2025, through April 30, 2026.

Their first destination was IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where Calipari and Coleman met with 2026 priority target and national Top 25 prospect Cole Cloer (6-7 wing).

"They ate breakfast together at the school cafeteria," said Scott Cloer, Cole's Dad.

Cloer, one of the best three-point shooters in the nation, has an official visit set to Arkansas on the weekend of Oct. 3-5.

His teammate at IMG Academy, 2026 national Top 40 prospect Chase Foster (6-8 forward), is also an Arkansas priority recruit, so Calipari's visit Thursday at IMG presented an opportunity to visit with Foster in addition to Cloer.

Foster has finalized an official visit date with Arkansas, but those dates have not been publicly announced as of yet.

Arkansas HC John Calipari making a stop by the O for Taylen Kinney 🤝 @Taylen_0 pic.twitter.com/FuvNVRdELW

— Overtime Elite (@OvertimeElite) September 4, 2025

Calipari off to The ATL and Little Rock

Calipari and Coleman then flew to Atlanta for a stop at Overtime Elite to check in on 2026 priority recruit and national Top 15, 5-star Tay Kinney (6-2 guard, Newport, Ky., native).

Kinney is scheduled to take an official visit to Arkansas the weekend of Sept. 26-28.

Next on Calipari's off-campus Thursday visit list was a late afternoon, early evening stop in Little Rock to see 2026 Arkansas commit and national No. 4, 5-star JaShawn "JJ" Andrews (6-6 wing, Little Rock Christian Academy).

"Coach Cal and Chin were in town to visit with JJ and his family," a source confirmed with us.

Andrews took his official visit to Arkansas in late December 2025 before committing to Calipari and the Razorbacks in mid-May of 2025.

Calipari and Coleman returned to Fayetteville later on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Calipari and Coleman were in Viginia and Maryland to see 2026 priority 5-star recruits Jordan Smith, Jr. (6-2 guard) and Baba Oladotun (6-10 combo forward), while on the same day Razorbacks assistant coach Chuck Martin was out to see 2026 priority recruit Abdou Toure (6-5 wing, Notre Dame high school in West Haven, Conn.) as well as 2026 twin 7-footers Darius and Adonis Ratliff, who both play at Archbishop Stepinac in West Plains, N.Y.

Smith Jr., Oladotun, and Toure all have upcoming official visits set to Arkansas.

Arkansas' current on-campus prospect visit dates list

• Aug. 29-31 was the recent visit date for Caleb Holt (6-5 guard, Prolific Prep, native of Huntsville, Ala., national No. 2, 5-star prospect)

• Sept. 5-7 Brandon McCoy, Jr. (6-5 guard, Sierra Canyon in Los Angeles, national Top 5, 5-star prospect) 

• Sept. 19-21 Arafan Diane (7-0 center, Iowa United Prep, native of Guinea, national No. 6, 5-star prospect)

• Sept. 19-21 Jordan Smith, Jr. (6-2 combo guard, Fairfax, Va., national No. 2, 5-star prospect)

• Sept. 26-28 Tay Kinney (6-2 guard, Overtime Elite, native of Newport, Ky., national No. 12, 5-star prospect) 

• Oct. 3-5 Cole Cloer (6-7 small forward / wing, native of Hillsborough, N.C., national Top 25 prospect)

• Oct. 24-26 (may be tentative) Baba Oladotun (6-10 combo forward, Silver Springs, Md., national Top 10, 5-star prospect)

• Dates TBA (confirmed already finalized) Abdou Toure (6-6 wing, Notre Dame high school in West Haven, Conn., national No. 20, 5-star prospect)

• Dates TBA (confirmed already finalized) Chase Foster (6-8 forward, Baltimore, Md., national No. 38, 4-star prospect)