2025 Consensus top-15 recruit Chris Cenac has been one of the hottest names on the recruiting circuit this summer. Cenac recently cut his college lists from 34 down to 12. 20- plus of those scholarships have come since May 1.
Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Houston, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Michigan State, Tennessee, Texas, and UConn are the schools that made the list for the New Orleans native.
“My family and I talked about it,” Cenac told Jacob Polacheck of KSR+ about why he chose the 12 schools. “It feels like these were the best schools and the schools that reached out the most. I also looked at their past.”
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Cenac has been one of the biggest risers of the class of 2025. Heading into the summer, Cenac was considered a top-50 prospect. But he is now a consensus five-star recruit and the 13th-best prospect in the class, thanks to a fantastic summer.
Cenac was named MVP of the NBPA Top 100 camp and was part of the USA U17 World Cup team. He scored in double figures in three of the six World Cup games, averaging 8.9 points with shooting splits of .538/.250/64.3%. He also compiled 5.4 rebounds, 1.0 steals, and 0.6 blocks in less than 12 minutes a contest.
On3 ranks him the highest of any of the major recruiting services at No. 5 in 2025. ESPN ranks him at No. 6, and 247Sports lists him at No. 15. Meanwhile, Rivals is the only service with him as a four-star prospect and No. 17 overall.
Here is what Jaime Shaw of On3, who put Cenac No. 6 on his list of top high prospects regardless of class, said about the big man’s potential:
He has seen consistent growth in each of the five updates since first being seen in that light by our national team. What first put Cenac at that level was that at 6-foot-9 (at the time) he could knock down a corner three and slide his feet to guard perimeter-based forwards on defense.
That archetype of a player is unique and highly coveted. Even with pieces to iron out in his game, the overall upside and positional value were too hard to ignore. Cenac has continued to add to his game. Now he shows diverse offensive skill flashes. Still able to knock down threes, he is comfortable off the catch, stepping into them, or shooting them off movement. He is also able to push the break off a rebound, can create clean looks in the mid-post, and is comfortable with a go-to move over his left shoulder on the block.
Oh, and he has also grown to 6-foot-10. The game is still a little raw, and growing. But he has a lot of facets to him that see him continually produce. Still going back to his frame and athleticism, he has a lot of different potential archetype outcomes. In fact, it is tricky to not pigeonhole him with the highest-level projections because the ceiling is vast.
Nailing down his go-to offensive package will be big for him. Finding his spots on the floor and developing the footwork to consistently get to these spots will be interesting over the next couple of years. Cenac is a good traffic rebounder and, once he learns angles and footwork, has the athleticism and length to be a versatile defender.
To be honest, Cenac might have the highest ceiling of any player currently in high school. This is not an exaggeration, but also, he could also have the furthest runway to get to that ceiling.
Cenac’s Recruitment
Despite cutting his school list to 12, Cenac still has a way to go before deciding. Cenac has taken unofficial trips to LSU (2), the latest being in February and Houston.
Cenac spoke to Polacheck a week ago about his recruitment.
“I’m going to take some [official visits] in September and October.I just have to get them set up.”
Since talking to Polacheck, Cenac has scheduled a couple of upcoming official visits to Arkansas (Sept. 14) and Baylor (Sept. 27). Expect him to set up more visits. LSU, Kentucky, and Houston are two of the schools that are expected to receive a visit.
“I’m looking for a school that will develop me the most and help me get to the next level,” Cenac told Shaw. “I’ll want to have a great relationship with the coaches, trust there. And I’ll want to be looking for an NBA type system, spreading the floor, playing four or five out. I’m open to any school around the country really, location won’t matter.”
Cenac is expected to take his time sorting things out. While he could decide during the early signing period in November, the situation could linger through the end of February (the late signing period). Before making a decision, he will likely trim down his list again.
Is there a favorite for Cenac’s services?
Regardless of whether Cenac cuts his list again, Shaw believes four schools are expected to be involved throughout. According to Shaw, LSU, Kentucky, Baylor, and Arkansas are the most common schools mentioned when discussing where he will end up. Shaw also said Michigan State and Louisville are the wild cards.
In talking with people around Cenac’s recruitment the two schools that consistently come up are Kentucky and LSU. The expectation around Cenac is that those two programs should be in the hunt for him until the end. LSU is the hometown school, and they have invested a lot into Cenac even before his mass blow-up this summer. Kentucky assistant coach Alvin Brooks, I am told, sat courtside for every one of Cenac’s Live Evaluation Period games this summer. While I would fall short of calling these two programs ‘leaders’ at the moment, I am told that they have done a good job positioning themselves heading into visits.
While making some phone calls around Cenac’s recruitment, two other schools that came up pretty regularly are Arkansas and Baylor. The lure of John Calipari and the list of top-end forwards and bigs that he has coached has caught Cenac’s attention. Baylor assistant coach Tweety Carter is from Louisiana and Cenac grew up going to Carter’s camps from before he was a teenager.
Two schools that seem to be flying under the radar when talking about Cenac’s recruitment are Louisville and Michigan State. Not many are publicly talking about them toward the top of the list, but sources close to Cenac told me to not be surprised if these two programs are able to ultimately find themselves in the mix here.
