Jasper Johnson introduced to Rupp Arena crowd for first time as official Kentucky Wildcat

Now that the ink has dried and his signing with Kentucky has been made official, Jasper Johnson was finally able to be formally introduced to the Rupp Arena crowd during the Wildcats’ 87-68 win over Western Kentucky on Tuesday night.

Johnson, a class of 2025 five-star point guard born and raised in Lexington, sat courtside with his family to check out his future team in action against the Hilltoppers. During the second half, former Kentucky player Ravi Moss brought out the future Wildcat to midcourt where he was met with a chorus of cheers from the packed crowd of Big Blue Nationites.

After initially committing to Kentucky back in September, Johnson signed the necessary papers to play his college basketball at UK earlier this month. He’s been inside Rupp Arena plenty of times before over the years (and even played here with Woodford County as a sophomore), but never while wearing street clothes as the center of attention in front of over 20,000 screaming fans.

The smile says all you need to know.

Welcome home, Jasper Johnson! pic.twitter.com/uNMF2BR4ab

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) November 27, 2024

Johnson is one of three signees from Mark Pope‘s first recruiting class as Kentucky’s head coach, joining four-star center Malachi Moreno and four-star point guard Acaden Lewis. The 6-foot-4 guard is ranked No. 14 overall in the nation by the On3 Industry Ranking. He’s currently finishing up his high school career at Overtime Elite as a member of Rod Wave Elite (RWE).

Alongside Tay Kinney, a talented class of 2026 guard who is also from Kentucky and is being recruited by Pope, the two Bluegrass natives form arguably the deadliest backcourt duo in all of OTE. Through five games played this season, Johnson is averaging 19.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per outing while shooting 47.9 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from deep.

This time next year, we’ll hopefully see him do the same thing in Kentucky blue and white.