Stretched across the forepart of an off-campus fraternity house on East Maxwell Street in Lexington, three white sheets hang for people to see, each individually painted with simple messages: “Come Home Rob, Come Home Stokes and Come Home Donnie.”
On what would have otherwise been a quiet spring day in the Bluegrass, Sigma Chi fraternity brothers turned the moment into a recruiting pitch, throwing their support behind head coach Mark Pope and Kentucky men’s basketball program as it hosted three top recruits for official visits on Monday.
From left to right, the banners referenced Rob Wright III, the No. 1 point guard in the transfer portal, Tyran Stokes, the most sought-after recruit in the country and No. 1 overall player in the Class of 2026 along with Donnie Freeman, the No. 4 ranked power forward in transfer portal who recently transferred out of Syracuse.
With Wright III, Stokes and Freeman coming to campus, a lot of users on social media have brought up the fact that this could be one of the biggest recruiting moments of Pope’s career as a head coach. The boys of Sigma Chi wanted to do all that they could to help him land these big names ahead of the 2026-27 season.
“Just how badly we want them, if they do come here, how much the Kentucky fans would love them,” sophomore Gabe Mingus said when asked what message he and his roommates were trying to send by putting up the banners.
The act of actually displaying the banners though, nearly never came to fruition as it was just an idea that was pushed aside for about a day.
“We were just sitting around on Saturday morning and that’s when the news broke that Stokes was going to visit on Monday, and I was like we should have a banner that says ‘Welcome Tyran’ or something like that,” sophomore Theo Timmerding said. “We (Mingus and Timmerding) kind of just laughed it off and then Sunday morning, we were just sitting around again and he (Mingus) was like ‘so are we actually doing this?’ and then we made it happen.”
After the idea was brought up again from Mingus and Timmerding, there were about 10-15 guys that jumped in to help make the banners. They manufactured them by spray painting the words on a bedsheet, before nailing them to the balcony railings and letting them hang for the citizens of Lexington (and hopefully the recruits) to see.
“We nail them to the wood and then we also nail them down low so that they aren’t just flying around – I’d say it took about 10 minutes to make it with that before letting it dry and before putting it up,” sophomore Ben Schulz said.
The banners have gone viral overnight surging across many different social media accounts and platforms, while those in the Lexington area have driven by to demonstrate their support in favor of the Sigma Chi boys’ idea.
“We just sit out here all day and love when people come by and honk, we all cheer for them, and we just want everybody to see it,” sophomore Henry Moore said. “They always stop, some people get out of their car and take pictures, it’s awesome.”
Other houses in Lexington have taken note of the movement as well and have hung banners of their own, and with that, Mingus created @KYBannerBoys’ on X, where he likes and reposts all content that involves not just the Sigma Chi banners, but banners from those created around Lexington as part of the movement.
Mingus made the official account on Sunday night and as of Monday morning it has already surpassed over 1,000 followers.
It is unclear if Wright III and Stokes have caught wind of the movement but assistant coaches Mo Williams and Mikail McLean actually drove by the house and made a quick stop while on the phone with Freeman.
“They (Williams and McLean) were actually on facetime with Donnie and they were talking about how he was “mad” that he doesn’t have his sign yet, so we made that right after as fast as we could and put it up.” Moore said.
While it’s unclear if Wright III, Stokes and Freeman will commit to UK as of now, one things for sure and that’s that a simple idea started by some friends rejuvenated life into the fanbase as whole. The life for Kentucky has despaired following the program’s lack of NCAA Tournament success over the years.
“I hope they just feel welcomed home,” Mingus said. “That’s the whole point of the sign saying ‘Come Home,’ we’re trying to make it feel like home for them.”
