Louisville wastes no time making scholarship offer to North Laurel standout Reed Sheppard

Reed Shepherd got three scholarship offers Tuesday, including one from Louisville. (Les Nicholson Photo)

John Calipari has done just about everything right this offseason after the disastrous 9-16 finish last year. However, one mistake he has made is letting Louisville offer in-state star Reed Sheppard a scholarship before Kentucky did.

I know Sheppard is only going to be a junior at North Laurel and there is plenty of time to make the offer. I also know that Calipari tends to sometimes want to wait until he sees a player play before he makes an offer. However, junior J.J. Taylor of Chicago got a Kentucky scholarship offer Tuesday and Calipari has not seen him play in person.

The 6-8 Taylor is a top 10 prospect in the 2023 class — and the No. 2 small forward— and also got offers from Gonzaga, LSU, Florida, and Nebraska Tuesday. He plays for Mac Irvin Fire on the Nike EYBL, a team new UK assistant Chin Coleman coached and still has strong ties with.

Sheppard, the son of former UK stars Stacey Reed and Jeff Sheppard, also got offers from College of Charleston and Arizona State (where former UK assistant Joel Justus is now on staff) along with the one from Louisville. Sheppard has also made a visit to Virginia this week and made one to Louisville earlier in June.

The 6-2 Sheppard, the No. 2 rated player in Kentucky behind Male’s Kaleb Glenn, already had offers from Texas A&M, Iowa, and Iona (where Rick Pitino, Jeff Sheppard’s coach at UK, now coaches).

Sheppard, a top 70 player in his recruiting class, averaged 30.1 points per game last season. He shot 41 percent from 3-point range. North Laurel finished 25-3 and lost in the 13th Region title game.