Kentucky offer "definitely big" for Woodford County star Jasper Johnson

Kentucky assistant coach Orlando Antigua couldn’t even get through a game out in Phoenix for Nike EYBL Session II before texting Dennis Johnson, father of Woodford County standout Jasper Johnson.

“Man, we need to get you guys in our office next week,” Antigua told him.

The former Kentucky football standout called Antigua to open the week and scheduled a visit on Friday — Oaks Day. Johnson brought his son, a top-25 prospect in the class of 2025, and his wife to the basketball facilities where the program’s top assistant was waiting with John Calipari. The coaching duo showed the Johnson family around and let Jasper soak in the Kentucky head coach’s extensive shoe collection and memorabilia — the star guard was particularly fascinated by the late Kobe Bryant’s hand-written note sent to the Hall of Famer, along with the Kobe 4 Proto ‘Mambacita’ pack he received from Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, in honor of their late daughter GiGi.

“That was really cool to me because I’ve never seen them in person before,” Jasper told KSR.

And then, the conversation. About an hour to an hour and a half to talk basketball — more specifically, playing basketball at the University of Kentucky.

“(Calipari) talked to me about the playing style that he likes to run, telling me that he could see me running that style at the one position,” the standout guard said. “He was talking to me, said, ‘I’ve been hearing about you a lot, but I haven’t gotten to see it in person. When I came to watch you, I wasn’t really worried about the scoring, I was focused on the defense and the passes, a lot of other things outside of scoring.’

“Then we started talking about the recruiting process and our relationship building. He wants me to go out there and be the best player in the country. I think he really believes in me. That was a motivation for me. And then he told me he was going to offer me. I said, ‘Thank you, coach.'”

Dennis Johnson was mesmerized by Calipari’s ability to rattle off specific things he saw in his son’s game, details easy to miss if you’re not a parent dissecting your kid’s every move. It was the way Jasper poked balls loose and got deflections, went for the shot contest — winning play after winning play.

“It was just like, wow. As a dad, you remember all of the good and bad plays, but some other people stay on their phones instead of actually watching,” Johnson said. “He said, ‘I came to see five or six kids and I was very observant.’ I was just very impressed by his knowledge of watching all of these games, but remembering one game with three or four specific things Jasper did. I was really impressed.”

What was the aha moment for Calipari watching the in-state standout, the sequence that led to Antigua’s abrupt mid-game text signaling an offer was imminent? Well, Dennis Johnson isn’t quite sure. If he had to guess, though, it was the 30-footer followed by a stepback jumper, then a dunk in the lane, all in a two- or three-minute span early in the third quarter with Coach Cal sitting courtside.

It wasn’t about going for 30 points or doing things that look good on a highlight tape. Calipari recalled offering a scholarship to Willie Cauley-Stein back in the day after watching him finish with four points and two rebounds in a game.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a five-star or a one-star,” the UK head coach told Johnson. “I know what I want to see. At Kentucky, there’s a certain thing I’m looking for.”

Jasper clearly has that certain thing. The 6-foot-4 guard has averaged 12.4 points on 54.1% from the field, 40.7% from three and 80% at the line to go with 2.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 steals in 22.3 minutes per contest through eight EYBL games — seven being wins. He’s the second-leading scorer for one of the best teams on the circuit, and doing so playing up a grade with the 17Us. That’s while being one of the 30 most efficient scorers through two sessions, as well.

Johnson isn’t just good for Woodford County or Kentucky as a whole. No asterisks or caveats or albeits necessary, he’s among the best in all of high school basketball, specifically in the class of 2025 — considered one of the strongest in recent memory. And now, he has an offer from Calipari and the Wildcats to show for it, a program he both followed as a fan and grew up around as the son of a former UK football star.

That’s not something Dennis Johnson takes lightly.

Look, he gets it. The dynamic pass-rusher was listed at 6-7, 260 pounds during his playing days, signing with Kentucky as the National Player of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 1997. He would go on to lead the SEC in tackles for loss, sacks and forced fumbles before playing in the NFL — a superstar talent at his peak. His brother, Derrick, also played at Kentucky, while their father Alvis, patriarch of the Johnson family, is a gridiron coaching legend in the state.

And Dennis’ wife and Jasper’s mom, Nyoka, was a standout basketball player in her own right. “I mean, she’s a Yeast,” Johnson said, related to former Kentucky football star Craig Yeast — among many star athletes in that family.

The in-state hooper has been blessed physically, sure. He already stands 6-4 with room to grow, boasting a long wingspan and sneaky athleticism. But the physical tools and family history aren’t why Johnson has racked up 17 Division I offers as a basketball player, the latest from Kentucky officially pushing him to blue-blood status.

He earned that himself.

“People just think, ‘Well, he’s Dennis’ son, he’s just been blessed as an athlete.’ No, he’s worked his tail off and he’s got a lot of good coaches,” his father told KSR. “We’ve spent countless hours in the gym working on the skills. We’ve been really digging into basketball and what it takes to win. It’s about making winning plays, we’ve talked about that a lot.”

Diving on the floor for loose balls or making the extra pass to someone on the cusp of catching fire. He can get buckets himself, but what about everything else? That’s been his focus as of late.

And it has clearly worked.

“It means a lot. I’ve been really working, basically since I can remember — five (years old) maybe?” Jasper told KSR. “I’d be waking up before school for workouts that start at 6:30 (AM), after school practice, followed by another workout. I’ve been doing that my whole life. It just makes me sit and realize all of the work I’ve been doing is paying off for me.”

The magnitude of the offer and what it means for his son hit Dennis when Calipari compared Jasper to former Kentucky star De’Aaron Fox, who is coming off his first All-Star season with the Sacramento Kings and is currently in year two of a $163 million max extension. Coach Cal said his son was “really even-keeled. He goes off, but he’s just kind of chill, makes a good pass.”

Dennis gave his son a friendly shove in the car on the way home from the visit, Jasper letting his braces show with a slight smile. ”Dude, that’s awesome,” he told him.

Dad likes to look at the numbers. He’s the athletic director and head football coach at Woodford County, helping student-athletes try to earn college scholarships and live out their dreams every day. With that, he knows it’s a fraction of a fraction of high school players who actually get those opportunities. He has a chart up in his office that breaks down the percentages across all levels — Division I to I-AA to NAIA and everything between.

“I’m the one that tells my kids, ‘Look at the numbers. Get your academics up,'” he told KSR. “… All of the kids who play high school basketball, that number is a very slim number. To be in this number and then get a blue blood offer, man, it was a proud moment as a father. Me and his mother are very excited for him.”

And then when you take a closer look at Calipari’s plans for the class of 2025, it’s even crazier. The Kentucky head coach told the Johnsons in their meeting that he will only be extending offers to “six or seven kids” in his age group — Jasper being one. Guards Meleek Thomas, Darius Acuff Jr., Darryn Peterson and Koa Peat have already earned scholarships, as well, meaning the pool isn’t expanding too much further beyond that.

Calipari is being selective, yet found something in Jasper that made him want to pull the trigger on an offer before the direct contact period even begins with rising juniors. That starts in June.

“There are a ton of former athletes’ sons who are really good, but it’s a very small percentage of people who get an offer. You can do a lot of the right things, have some God-given size and stay healthy, it’s just so many things that have to work out to get you there. It’s like one or two percent, man,” Johnson told KSR. “For me as a dad, it was just very exciting for me. I’ve been through this process, but just to see your son — what are the chances, man?

“What are the chances of having your kid getting an offer from the University of Kentucky? That’s an offer coveted by every kid in the country. We’re very proud of him.”

It should be noted that some of the players in Calipari’s first run of scholarship offers are in a group chat together and are already talking about their respective recruitments. They met each other at USA Basketball and have grown close since.

And yes, the idea of potentially teaming up at the next level has come up, with Thomas, Peterson and Peat among those in the chat — all top-10 talents in the class.

“I guess one of them was already like, ‘Where are we gonna go?’ So they’re already kind of talking about it. I’m like, ‘Dude, they’re going to the NBA,'” Dennis joked.

“We all got to meet at USA, so we’re all close, really. We all talk from time to time, see each other at different tournaments, stuff like that,” Jasper added. “So yeah, we just talk about recruiting and just life, really.”

Joining a superclass of sorts was part of Calipari’s pitch to the Johnson family, similar to the group Kentucky signed in 2023 — going back to what worked early in the Hall of Fame coach’s time in Lexington. Cal indicated that his recent teams have had guards that are “good in their own way, but not like the guards I had four, five, six years ago,” Dennis said. Those guys could create space and thrived in the dribble-drive, something Calipari hopes to get back to with this upcoming group, playing his style of basketball.

And that’s his hope for the 2025 class, as well.

Jasper included.

“I can see that group fitting together. I think there’s going to be a fit, just like the five Cal is bringing in this year,” Dennis said. “You want to play with a lot of other good guys. Cal said, ‘Look, if you want to come in and average 30, that’s not going to happen. We’ve had six to eight guys that averaged 20 or 25 points in a season, but most of our guys are really, really good. They’re sharing the ball, and it’s hard for people to know how to stop because we have such good players and people play the right way, play with each other.’

“That’s what makes Kentucky basketball at its peak the best, it’s a ton of great players who play the game the right way.”

The Woodford County standout agrees, going back to Calipari’s pitch about iron sharpening iron and developing alongside other pro-level talent before jumping to the NBA.

“Coach Cal said to me, ‘Why do you think so many of our guys get drafted lottery, in the first round?’ I said, ‘The coaching staff helps.’ He said, ‘Nah, really what helps them is having a whole bunch of good guys. Nobody is going to average 25 or 30, none of that. Everybody has to make a sacrifice here.’ And that’s what the coaches see,” Jasper told KSR. “When you get drafted, you’re going to go to an NBA team that already has an elite guard, so you’re going to have to learn how to play different roles, this and that. I know a couple of players in my class I’d like to play with, but if it doesn’t pan out, it is what it is.”

Jasper Johnson is in no rush to make a college commitment and remains 100 percent open to all schools, stressing he’s “just gonna take it slow.” Alabama, Louisville, Memphis, Ohio State, Cincinnati and Xavier are among the other schools that have “really shown a lot of interest,” coming to his school to watch him practice and play.

When it does come time to make a decision, he wants to choose an option that will “better his chances of getting drafted, go pro.”

“In order to have a solid college career, whether that’s one season, two seasons, three seasons, four seasons, I just want to go somewhere where I feel needed and wanted,” he told KSR. “I’m just sitting here right now trusting the process.”

Until then, he’s going to soak in this moment with his friends and family, those in his community that have waited on the edge of their seats for this offer to come through.

“This one was definitely big, I’d say. For my family, my community, I grew up here and I know everybody wanted me to have the chance to be able to play at Kentucky,” Jasper said. “That makes a big impact.”

Once in his son’s shoes as a blue-chip recruit with a long list of college options to choose from, Dennis Johnson is just a proud dad excited to see his kid’s hard work paying off.

The big one finally came through.

“You’d be lying if you said you didn’t want your son to get that offer. That’s my alma mater, I loved my time at the University of Kentucky. My wife went there, you know? A lot of our family members are UK fans,” Johnson told KSR. “That was one of the big moments of my life. Like dang, I can’t believe we’re sitting here in Cal’s office and he offered Jasper a scholarship.

“It’s something I’ll definitely cherish. It’s a blessing, man.”