Mark Pope has landed another major recruit at Kentucky. And it’s a name plenty of UK fans in the commonwealth already know. On Thursday afternoon, five-star class of 2025 guard Jasper Johnson committed to Pope and the Wildcats. Ranked as the No. 10 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class by the 247Sports Composite, the 6-foot-4 Johnson is Pope’s second commitment in the 2025 class since being named Kentucky’s head coach in April. In August, UK also landed four-star class of 2025 center Malachi Moreno from Great Crossing High School in Georgetown. Johnson picked UK from a final shortlist of schools that also included Alabama, Arkansas, Louisville and North Carolina, although Alabama, UK and UNC were viewed as the realistic options for him. A former standout player at Woodford County High School who helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the semifinals of the Sweet 16 state tournament in 2023, Johnson played his junior high school season at Link Academy, a prep school in Missouri.
Johnson will play his senior season at the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite (OTE) program. OTE was the final pre-college stop for ex-Cat Rob Dillingham, as well as former UK commits Somto Cyril and Karter Knox. Johnson committed to Kentucky during an event at Woodford County’s basketball gym in Versailles. “Perhaps the most intriguing way that Johnson has developed is his role flexibility,” Zach Welch, an analyst for Pro Insight Basketball, told the Herald-Leader. “He has had some contexts in which he is largely an off-ball shooter, others in which he gets to tap into his creation abilities a bit more and furthermore has had some in which he is the primary offensive engine. His willingness to embrace a variety of roles and learn how to provide value in different contexts is invaluable.”
Johnson — whose father is Dennis Johnson, the former Harrodsburg, UK and NFL football player who currently serves as the head football coach and athletics director at Woodford County — has been a longtime recruiting target for the Wildcats. This process began under former head coach John Calipari, who extended Johnson a scholarship offer in May 2023 following Johnson’s breakout sophomore season at Woodford County. Under Calipari, Kentucky’s recruitment of Johnson included Calipari and members of the 2023-24 UK basketball team watching Johnson explode for 37 points in January in a game played at Woodford County’s gym in Versailles. Johnson officially visited UK in February. UK’s pursuit of Johnson continued after Pope took over as UK’s coach. In recent months, Pope and other UK coaches traveled to watch Johnson play in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) in Indiana and South Carolina, at the USA Basketball Men’s Under-18 National Team training camp in Colorado and at the FIBA Men’s Under-18 AmeriCup in Argentina. “Coach Pope, (he) had a short period of time (to recruit me) with the coaching switches, but I feel like he made a big commitment, took a lot of time and spoke a lot with me,” Johnson said during his commitment event, which was also live streamed on the 247Sports YouTube channel. “I feel like the trust was there between me and him and the coaching staff.”
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