By SAM LANCE & CHARLIE PARENT
Jasper Johnson, a five-star in the class of 2025, had an intense month of June taking visits to Illinois and Alabama, while representing USA at the U18 AmeriCup in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The 6-foot-5 guard out of Team Thad AAU helped the U.S. to a gold medal, winning six straight games in blowout fashion throughout the tournament. Johnson averaged 10.0 points and 2.7 assists in 15.9 minutes per game. He shot a team best 42.3% from three-point range as well (11-26 3FG).
“It was a good experience,” he told ZAGSBLOG. “Being able to go out to play and represent my country was great. [The style] is a lot more phyiscal. [You have] to be a lot more fundamental over there.”
Johnson took his visits around two weeks later, seeing Champaign, Illinois, for the first time and going to Alabama for his third time, and first official.
He broke down each visit to ZAGSBLOG:
Illinois: “It was good, I had a couple teammates that are committed there from USA [Basketball]. Coach Orlando [Antigua], me and him are close, so going over to Illinois was good. [They want] me to be a impact player from Day 1. It’s a good campus, I didn’t really know much about it before going up there so being able to get on campus and see everything was good.”
Alabama: “It was good, coach [Nate] Oats and coach Preston [Murphy] have been contacting me a lot. Going down there and seeing campus, hearing their message was good. [They want] me to be a one-and-done player, have a Day 1 impact and win games.”
Johnson has no visits setup right now, and is unsure if he’ll take more visits after Peach Jam, though he says North Carolina, Kentucky and Baylor have been in touch as of late.
North Carolina: “Coach Hubert [Davis] have been contacting me a lot and I think they’ll come to my games when they can. Seeing the campus was great, it’s a great campus and great program, so I like the school.”
Kentucky: “Me being from there, Kentucky is always a school I’ve watched. Coach [Mark] Pope reaching out to me and recruiting me has been great. I know it’s Year 1, but I think they’ll do pretty good.”
Baylor: “Coach Bill [Armstrong] going there from Link [Academy], me and him are pretty close. He’s still contacting me and reaching out to me and I think he’ll come to my games.”
Johnson says he does not have a timetable to cut down his list, or commit.
He is still unsure if he’ll come back to Link Academy for his senior season after Armstrong departed, while saying Overtime Elite and his hometown school Woodford County are the other options.
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