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Jasper Johnson pitches Kentucky to Caleb Wilson and Acaden Lewis

Jack PIlgrimby:Jack Pilgrim•09/18/24

If you were scrolling through social media late last night, you may have noticed an interesting string of posts from Jasper Johnson and a pair of Kentucky recruiting targets in the class of 2025. The five-star guard got the ball rolling with a message to No. 4 overall prospect Caleb Wilson, telling him they missed their shot to play together in AAU ball, but the opportunity is there to team up in Lexington.

“Come on (Caleb Wilson),” Johnson said. “We missed (it) in AAU. Let’s go crazy in front of the best fans in the country. BBN. ‘KY til I Die.’”

Johnson has also made it clear he’s interested in teaming up with No. 34 recruit Acaden Lewis after the guard duo won a title together at Damian Lillard’s Formula Zero camp in August.

Interestingly enough, Wilson and Lewis spent Tuesday evening sharing cryptic posts on social media hinting at a package deal where they could potentially team up with Johnson in Lexington — all of the eyeball emojis you could ever dream of in the modern era of college basketball recruiting.

And it’s not the first time they’ve gone back and forth about playing together on social media, Wilson telling Lewis to “come on over bro” in response to his list cut down to four. The four-star guard followed that up by writing “I wanna play (with) this guy” in the five-star forward’s comment section on Instagram, responding to his official visit photos at Kentucky.

It’s not hard to connect the dots, but just how realistic is a package deal of Wilson and Lewis to Kentucky with Johnson and Malachi Moreno, who also openly pushed for Lewis to join them in Lexington?

Johnson made it clear they’re his top priorities after transitioning from recruited to recruiter under Mark Pope at Kentucky. If he has it his way, the Wildcats will land both — preferably sooner rather than later.

“I mean, I’ve been talking to Acaden a lot, reaching out to him,” Johnson told KSR on this week’s edition of the Sources Say Podcast. “I got to play with him at Formula Zero and we played really good together, we ended up winning the championship. I’m definitely pushing for him, I feel like that’s a backcourt that will be very difficult for other teams to defend and stop. I’m definitely talking to him.

“And Caleb, as well. I mean, I’ve known Caleb and played against Caleb for a while now, so I’ve seen his development and see how good he is of a player. I know that I could feed off him and he could feed off me. I tried to get him to play with me for a couple of summers with Team Thad on the EYBL (circuit), so I’m still pushing him to maybe team up in college. That’s something that I’ve been trying to do, as well.”

Lewis’ addition would solidify the Kentucky backcourt with two top-35 standouts — both lefties capable of scoring and facilitating. They saw it work in Phoenix at Lillard’s camp last month, they know it can work in Lexington.

In Johnson’s eyes, there aren’t many guards like Lewis in the country. And there wouldn’t be many teams capable of stopping them both together at the next level.

“Acaden, he’s a sleeper and a dog, for sure. I’ve been telling him,” the five-star guard told KSR. “I’ve known Acaden for a couple months, we played him last season at Link Academy. I didn’t really know too much about him personally then, but he was really good a player. He could score the ball, facilitate — he can do a lot of things. He can shoot the ball really well. Playing with him at Formula Zero, I know we can feed off each other. Us both being switchable guards, combo guards, scoring threats or being able to pass and create offense for each other or anybody else, really.

“Seeing that, it really makes me hope that I can get him to come to Kentucky.”

What about Wilson? Well, his status as a top-five recruit and the second-best power forward in the class says it all. He’s an inside-out offensive threat with elite defensive upside — perfect for a coach like Mark Pope.

And perfect for a guard like Jasper Johnson.

“Caleb, he’s just a very versatile player, definitely an NBA prospect,” he added. “6-10, he can play one through four really, if you think about it. Knowing he can pass the ball, score whenever we need it — I mean, he’s a great player that I want to play with, for sure.”

Two down, two (or more) to go? That’s the hope for the Lexington native.

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2024-09-19