Mark Pope told Jasper Johnson he was born to coach the 5-star guard
Mark Pope was behind the eight ball in Jasper Johnson‘s recruitment when he took over as Kentucky’s head coach back in April. Obviously, as a brand new coach at a Blue Blood with zero players on his roster, he was behind in a lot of ways.
But as the Big Blue Nation has come to learn during the last several months, Pope doesn’t sleep. He surely lost plenty of it trying to secure the commitment of Johnson, one of the highest-ranked recruits to ever come out of the state of Kentucky. As a 6-foot-4, five-star shooting guard, he was worth the cost of a few good night’s rest.
Those extra morning coffees were worth it though. Johnson, ranked No. 12 in the 2025 class by the On3 Industry Ranking, committed to the Wildcats on Thursday at Woodford County High School.
“I know I have a goal in mind and I feel like coming to Kentucky was the best opportunity for me to get to the next level,” Johnson told KSR afterward.
Other schools had a clear recruiting advantage with Johnson in the early stages of Pope’s tenure. The other two programs in hot pursuit were Alabama and North Carolina. The Crimson Tide recruited him for years and were even Johnson’s first Division I offer. The Tarheels were his favorite team growing up. All three schools were at one point the perceived frontrunner until about two weeks ago.
But by playing on the home-state hero angle with visions of sending him to the NBA (and a sprinkle of NIL assistance), it was always going to be tough to turn down Kentucky. It also doesn’t hurt when the coach recruiting Johnson believes they were quite literally put on this earth to teach him the game of basketball.
“Coach Pope always tells me he feels like he was born to coach me,” Johnson said. “Hearing him say that and his level of commitment that he gave to me within a couple of months, it means a lot to me. I can’t wait to get started. I know they’re gonna have a plan for me but just building our relationship is what we’re focused on right now.”
Pope and his staff spent countless hours traveling to watch Johnson in person from the day they were hired. Whether it was on the Nike EYBL circuit, at Overtime Elite in Atlanta, or even overseas in Argentina for Team USA, Pope (and usually an assistant or two) was in the building with eyes on the Lexington native.
“He took a lot of time, and one thing you can’t get back is time,” Johnson said of his future head coach. “I know he had a short period but I feel like he made me a priority with as much time that he was given. He would come and see me, call me, text me — not just him, the whole coaching staff.”
Pope and Co. have now landed two massive Top 25 commitments from Johnson and four-star center Malachi Moreno, the latter also an in-state product. The Wildcats currently have the No. 1 ranked 2025 recruiting class. Pope might not be sleeping much, but he’s doing about as good of a job as any fan could have asked for through the first several months on the job.
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