It’s finally official.

On Friday, Kahlil Whitney signed his national letter of intent with the University of Kentucky during a ceremony in Chicago. It comes after Whitney committed nine months ago during the 2018 summer recruiting circuit.

However, Whitney made the decision to wait until the late signing period to put pen to paper, as he wanted to sign in Chicago at his old grammar school, where he was born and raised until he transferred to Roselle Catholic in high school.

For Whitney, the goal was to sign there so kids from his hometown could see how he made his dreams a reality and give them hope for a brighter future.

Whitney’s high school career is now over, but he used his senior season at Roselle Catholic to make a statement about who he is as a player.

Despite coming up short in his final game, Whitney lead his team on a dominating run over the span of two seasons and provided some unbelievable highlights in the process. His 26 points were a game-high in New Jersey non-public B state final where Roselle Catholic lost to the Ranney School, who has a pair of All-Americans in Scottie Lewis (Florida commit) and Bryan Antoine (Arizona commit.)

In 29 games this past season, Whitney averaged 19.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, earning him McDonald’s All-American honors. Nearly every recruiting service ranks Whitney as a top 10 player in the class of 2019. There is still time for him to move up in the overall rankings, but regardless, the Kentucky Wildcats are getting a special person on and off the court.

These videos will give you an idea of the caliber athlete that will be making his way to Lexington in just a few months.

Kahlil Whitney just murdered someone pic.twitter.com/zs1PH1nOLa — KY Clips™️ (@KY_Clips) December 28, 2018

His high school career may be over, but Whitney has made it clear that he is thrilled for be making his way to Lexington and take the next step in his journey.

”I’m ‘BBN’ all the way, baby,” Whitney told Adam Zagoria in a December 2018 interview.

There were some questions when he decided not to sign in the early period but there is no indication that Whitney isn’t all in on joining Dontaie Allen, Keion Brooks and Tyrese Maxey as the other three commits in UK’s class of 2019.

With several other options still in play, including Jaden McDaniels, Johnny Juzang and Kerry Blackshear, there is still a lot of room for Coach Calipari to make some moves before it’s all said and done.

Kentucky is clearly adding some depth at the wing position, but I think that Kahlil Whitney will bring some toughness and willing defense to the roster next season. He embraces the challenge of a competitor coming at him.

Roselle Catholic High School also produced former Wildcat Isaiah Briscoe, another hard-nosed player who brought an added level of physicality and intensity to Kentucky’s roster from 2015-17.

Fans may have mixed emotions about Briscoe’s time as a Wildcat, but most would agree that he was a tenacious competitor who aimed to bully his opponents, and Whitney is no different.

It’s great to see Whitney is finally locked in to being a Wildcat for next season, as he’ll be a vital member of what’s already a projected top-five team for next season.