"Mom really handles all of that": Kentucky target Christian Collins remains uncertain on future amid recruitment buzz

Christian Collins, the No. 3 recruit in the Class of 2026 (as per On3's Industry Rankings), will enter his senior year at St. John Bosco next season. The 6-foot-8 small forward sat down for an interview with On3, discussing his future and recruitment.

The 17-year-old has received offers from top programs, including Kansas, Oregon, Alabama, Kentucky and UCLA. When asked about his recruitment, Collins said that his mother is handling the process.

“It’s going good, it’s going really good,” he said. “My mom really handles all of that, so I don’t really have much to say about that.”

Furthermore, he also said that he is considering all the offers he has received.

“All of them, every single one that I’ve been talking to,” Collins added. “For example, like USC, Arizona, Cal, Oregon, Texas, Duke and Kentucky. All of them.”

The small forward averaged 13.3 points, 1.7 assists, 9.7 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.9 blocks per game in 29 games last season for St. John Bosco. He helped his team to a 26-7 record and an 8-2 record in the California Southern Section Trinity Basketball League, where the Braves finished first.

Christian Collins was also selected in the 18-member squad for the U19 World Cup in Switzerland after three days of training camp at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

He will be accompanied by other top prospects such as BYU Cougars signee AJ Dybantsa, Louisville Cardinals signee Mikel Brown Jr. and Houston Cougars signee Chris Cenac Jr.

He also talked about the training camp in a conversation with KSR.

“It’s a great experience, this is my first real tryout. It’s my first time getting invited with all these great players, so it’s just a good opportunity and good experience trying to show everyone what I can do,” Christian Collins told KSR. “Realizing that it’s not about scoring here, because everybody can score. It’s about what you can do off the ball like rebounding, passing, setting screens, rolling, communicating, stuff like that. Doing the little things.”

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USC leads the race to sign Christian Collins

The Class of 2026 recruit ranks second in the small forward position and third in California. Among various programs, the Trojans lead the race to sign Christian Collins with a 47.3% prediction, according to On3's recruitment prediction machine.

They are followed by UCLA with a 3.8% chance, Stanford with a 3.2% probability and other colleges with less than 3.0% probability to land Collins.

He still has another year to make his decision.

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Edited by Nadim El Kak