Reports: Fans in celebration as Kentucky Wildcats Re-recriut 5 star player…..Read more

Jasper Johnson, a five-star shooting guard from Branson (Mo.) Link Academy, seems to be nearing the end of his recruitment. The 12th best prospect in the 2025 class is reportedly close to deciding on a college, and an announcement might be made soon after Peach Jam. The following schools were included in Johnson’s top ten in January: Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Missouri, North Carolina, USC, and West Virginia.

Following that, in February, Johnson paid official visits to Auburn, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Visits to North Carolina and Kentucky were unofficial this summer, but trips to Alabama and Illinois were official. Travis Branham, a national recruiting analyst for 247Sports, claims that Johnson’s recruiting is down to the wire.

A showdown between Alabama and North Carolina is developing in this recruiting process. Branham stated that Kentucky is still participating. His hometown of Woodford County, where he spent his formative years, is clearly only 30 minutes away. Recent experiences include both an unofficial tour and an official visit to Alabama have left me with the impression that the Crimson Tide might be the team to beat. We will keep an eye on this conflict in the next weeks because North Carolina is heavily involved. It appears that there is a lot of mutual interest.

Johnson has many connections to the Kentucky initiative. His grandpa, Alvis Johnson, was a long-serving administrator at the school, and his dad, Dennis, was a UK Football star in the ’90s.

‌New Kentucky head coach Mark Pope has likewise gone above and beyond, placing a premium on Johnson. Pope was in attendance at three separate events involving Johnson: the Nike EYBL stop in Indianapolis, the US U18 tryouts in Colorado Springs over Memorial Day Weekend, and the FIBA U18 AmeriCup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Johnson was a key member of Team USA’s championship run. Pope was in Shelbyville for the KABC Titans-Rockets Shootout, where he also watched Johnson play.