A top high school basketball recruit watched KU football defeat Wagner on Friday
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Ethan Taylor attended Kansas-Wagner football game on an unofficial KU visit.
- Taylor named six finalists including KU, Kentucky, and Michigan State.
- Latrell Allmond canceled KU visit due to family matter; reschedule unknown.
Ethan Taylor, a 7-foot-1, 230-pound senior center from Link Year Academy in Branson, Missouri, formerly of Shawnee Mission Northwest, attended Friday’s Kansas-Wagner football game as part of an unofficial men’s basketball recruiting visit, a source close to his recruitment told The Star.
Taylor — he played for Mokan Elite’s AAU program — on Aug. 9 narrowed his list of schools to six: Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan State, Oklahoma and Oregon.
He is ranked No. 19 in the recruiting class of 2026 by Rivals, No. 22 by 247Sports and No. 32 by ESPN.
At one time he had Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa, Creighton, Baylor, Tennessee, Houston, Texas, Florida State and others on his list of schools.
Taylor, who also made an unofficial visit to KU on June 24, will make his official visit to KU on Sept. 26-28.
He also will visit Oregon (Sept. 5-7), Oklahoma (Sept. 12-14), Indiana (Sept. 19-21), Michigan State (Oct. 3-5) and Kentucky (Oct. 10-12).
Taylor averaged 9.2 points and 7.3 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per game for Mokan Elite during the EYBL season. He played for SM Northwest three years before heading to Link Academy for his senior campaign.
“My game has taken a huge leap offensively,” Taylor told On3.com. “I used to be more of a short corner guy, but I’ve gotten better at crashing the glass, getting putbacks and scoring off postups. A lot of my development has been me just turning up my motor. It was kind of hard to grasp that these last couple of years, but my understanding is that now, everything has been clicking for me.”
He noted he wants “to go to a school that has a great history of developing bigs. A program that has a winning culture and a great environment. I want to play for good coaches, ones that will push you, but also understand that you’re human.”
Meanwhile, Latrell Allmond, a 6-8, 225-pound power forward from Petersburg High in Richmond, Virginia, who originally had planned on visiting KU on Friday through Sunday, did not make the trip because of a family matter, he told On3.com.
He recently included KU on his list of nine schools. They are: KU, Arizona, Indiana, Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Tennessee and Virginia.
It is not yet known if Allmond, a native of Richmond, Virginia, will reschedule the KU visit. He is ranked No. 21 in the class of 2026 by Rivals, No. 36 by ESPN and No. 42 by 247Sports.
This story was originally published August 30, 2025 at 10:59 PM with the headline "A top high school basketball recruit watched KU football defeat Wagner on Friday."
