Gabe Dynes made his commitment to Louisville official over the weekend. Photo provided | University of Louisville Athletics

In a highly sought after transfer portal recruitment, Simon Kenton grad Gabe Dynes is headed closer to home.

After playing at Youngstown State for two seasons and Southern Cal for one, Dynes committed to Louisville over the weekend to continue his college basketball career.

Dynes had many suitors for his services, who led Division I in blocked shots his sophomore year at Youngstown State. In the end, it was a Bluegrass battle for Dynes between Louisville and Kentucky. Arizona, Baylor, Xavier, Washington, Ole Miss, St. Mary’s, Tennessee, Florida State, North Carolina State and Oklahoma also reportedly had interest in Dynes. 

Things moved rather quickly for Dynes, who announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal on April 17 and made the commitment to Louisville on April 25. Big men are of high priority in this transfer portal cycle.

At USC, Dynes played in 30 games this past season and averaged nearly 12 minutes a game. He posted 2.9 points per game to go with 2.3 rebounds and a blocked shot per game. In his sophomore year at Youngstown, Dynes posted 6.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks per game, shooting nearly 70% from the field. In two years at Youngstown, Dynes played in 62 games, averaged 18.1 minutes per contest and shot 70% from the field. He pulled down 309 rebounds to go with 167 blocked shots.

The rising junior hails from Independence where he was a standout for the Pioneers, posting 600 points and 498 rebounds in his final two seasons with Simon Kenton. He led the state in field goal percentage his senior year and was named to the Ohio-Kentucky All-Star team, among many other local All-Region teams in northern Kentucky.

His commitment is a now six-man transfer portal class for the Cardinals. Dynes joins De’Shayne Montgomery from Dayton, Flory Bidunga from Kansas, Alvaro Folgueiras from Iowa, Karter Knox from Arkansas and Jackson Shelstad from Oregon. After being primarily a rotational piece for USC, expect Dynes to be in a similar role for the Cardinals with Bidunga’s arrival, rated as the top transfer portal prospect by many recruiting services.