Missing 6-year-old found, signs to play basketball at UK

Burrice said he was glad the recruiting process was over. "Now I can just get back to playing basketball."

Jacquan Burrice, the six-year-old boy who disappeared in Oldham County almost two weeks ago, was reunited with his parents yesterday and hours later signed a letter-of-intent to play basketball at the University of Kentucky. Burrice’s parents, Don Burrice and Jackolyn Nugent, were ecstatic to see their child in good health and virtually unharmed. Equally excited was new Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie, who paid the abductors an unreported sum that enabled him to land his youngest recruit yet.

“We were in contact with the abductors from the get-go, and through hours of negotiation, we were able to reach an agreement,” said Gillispie, who still hopes Burrice can lure his best friend and fellow playground standout, Dayne Grant, to Kentucky. “His doctors told us he was in the 98th percentile in height for his age, so there’s no way we were going to let him get away, at least from us. Of course we certainly wanted him to get away from those scoundrels who took the poor kid in the first place.”

Despite his early success on the recruiting trail, Gillispie warned fans not to get too overconfident. “To have the top recruit from the class of 2021 shows we’re on the right track (with recruiting), but there’s still a long way to go.”