Mark Pope sees 'superstar' potential in Jasper Johnson: "He needs to come here and be great."

Mark Pope isn’t going to downplay his expectations for Jasper Johnson‘s first season in Lexington.

Johnson is Pope’s biggest high school recruiting win to date. Yes, Johnson is a homegrown product, born and raised in central Kentucky. But he could have easily gone to somewhere like North Carolina, where the coaching staff had prioritized him for years.

Luckily for the Big Blue Nation, Johnson elected to stay close to home after Pope made a significant push to land his recruitment in a short amount of time. Johnson is considered a top 25 high school recruit in the country and someone who could step in right away at Kentucky and make an impact.

That’s what Pope is expecting, at least.

“I think Jasper Johnson is a superstar. I expect him to come in here and be great,” Pope said during his offseason press conference Tuesday. “And for every freshman, there is a learning curve in terms of the physicality and intensity of the game, the relentless physicality and intensity of the game. But Jasper Johnson has got a really, really incredible skill set. He’s one of those guys.

“There are very few players who just go get a shot whenever they want it. He can do it. He’s got an ability to get skinny and kind of do things defensively that are going to be surprising. I think he’s got an incredible upside on the defensive side of the ball, also. I think he’s got a crafty, slippery nature where he can get downhill.”

Johnson is well-known as a top-end scoring guard. The lefty can fire three-pointers several feet from behind the line as efficiently as he can flip a tough layup off the glass in traffic. How quickly his size and physicality adapt to the college level is going to be a question, but there’s no denying his ability to put the ball in the bucket.

But what’s even more interesting was Pope’s praise of Johnson’s defense. At 6-foot-4 with fast feet, Johnson is going to be long enough to disrupt opposing offenses. On top of what he brings to the floor, Pope is just as confident about Johnson’s own confidence.

“He’s got a poise about him,” Pope added. “He’s a little bit unflappable. He’s able to kind of metabolize a lot of input and kind of keep himself even-keeled. I think he’s a big shot maker. I expect him to be, like he needs to come here and be great, and that’s what he wants to do. That’s what we want from him.”

We’ve only known Pope for about 13 months as Kentucky’s head coach, but it’s not often he talks about one of his players with such conviction. Honestly, I don’t think he’s ever talked about a Kentucky player with that kind of definitive tone before. He needs to come here and be great is a line filled with pressure for a 19-year-old college freshman, but it’s also one filled with trust.

Johnson will be a part of a deep and talented backcourt at UK. He’s going to battle every single day in practice for minutes. He’ll be playing next to an All-ACC guard, an All-SEC guard (if Otega Oweh ultimately returns, that is), a national champion, and a sophomore who was finding his footing late last season.

But if Johnson can emerge from that group as one of, if not the best, Kentucky will be a problem in 2025-26. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s a Bluegrass Boy, either — that’s just the cherry on top.

“I still have all my ‘KY ’til I die’ gear,” Pope said. “I love that so much.”

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