Orlando Antigua pays visit to 4-star '25 Woodford County PG Jasper Johnson

The Bluegrass State is slowly turning into a mini-hotbed for talented, homegrown hoopers. North Laurel senior Reed Sheppard got the ball rolling with his commitment to Kentucky, Lyon County junior Travis Perry kept it going with an offer from the Wildcats, and now, Woodford County sophomore Jasper Johnson is beginning to hear from UK on a regular basis.

Johnson, who is considered a four-star recruit and the No. 26 overall sophomore in the country, per the On3 Consensus, announced himself to the recruiting world over the summer. An offer from Alabama in July was just the beginning as the 6-foot-4 point guard now holds additional offers from the likes of Ohio State and Cincinnati, among others. Power 5 programs such as Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida State are in the process of bringing Johnson to campus. The Versailles, KY product was on an unofficial to Xavier Thursday morning (which resulted in an offer) and stopped by Cinncinati and Louisville earlier in the week.

On Wednesday night, KSR spoke with Johnson’s father, Dennis Johnson, who played linebacker at Kentucky in the early 2000s and is now the head football coach at Woodford County. Dennis was able to fill us in on the latest with his son’s basketball recruitment, including the conversations they’ve had with Kentucky and members of the staff.

“The recruitment has been going good, we’ve talked to a ton of people,” Dennis Johnson told KSR. “Went on four or five — been to Alabama, been to Ohio State, been to Notre Dame, we just went to Cincinnati the day before yesterday. So it’s been good man, they really like him. I think he had a really good summer with teams down in Memphis that really prepared his recruiting.”

Jasper doubles as the star quarterback for a ranked Woodford County football team, so he’s been having to balance that season with basketball, but he and his dad have still been able to make plenty of college visits. That won’t be much of an issue moving forward though, as Johnson plans to focus on basketball full-time after this football season comes to an end.

He initially planned on visiting Kentucky for Big Blue Madness earlier this month, but an important district football game took priority (a 41-28 win over Collins in the Kroger KSR Game of the Week). Luckily, he’s a short drive down the road from UK. Associate coach Orlando Antigua stopped by Woodford County on Tuesday to watch Johnson work out and talk with him afterward.

“Coach Antigua came by (Wednesday) night, we’ve been on the phone with him a few times,” Dennis Johnson said. “Our head coach at the high school, Jaron Brown, has talked to all the coaches, Chin (Coleman) and Antigua and those guys. They like watching him and they came in and said they love his length and he can handle the ball. It’s exciting to get those guys in the gym.”

University of Kentucky was in tonight to see 2025 6’4 PG Jasper Johnson of Woodford County / @TeamThadNation @BruhJasperJ pic.twitter.com/JJmelOz0DX

— NextUpRecruits (@NextUpRecruits) October 26, 2022

The biggest aspect of Jasper’s game that has caught the attention of college coaches, Kentucky’s included, is his length for a point guard. Antigua stayed to watch him work out for two hours on Tuesday.

“The one thing — (Louisville assistant) Nolan Smith came through, and even Antigua — they were like we didn’t know he was that tall to be a point,” Dennis Johnson said. “He’s real long, he can handle the ball, you just don’t see a lot of kids like that. He’s probably 6-4 no shoes on, real long, I think he’s got an 80-, 81-inch wingspan. They really like that. He can handle the ball and we’ve always tried to work on ball handling which is really really good. He shoots it really well, he shot it the other night when Coach (Antigua) was there, he shot it from deep real well. A big guard who can be a good decision-maker that can handle the ball. They said there was a place for him on the court.”

There are plenty of other intangibles that make Jasper such a tantalizing prospect, too. He has a quarterback’s mind and leadership qualities plus a football player’s toughness. His basketball IQ is another one of his major strengths. Johnson will need to bulk up his skinny 155-pound frame, but that should come over time as his body continues to develop. He’s already shown more than enough to hold Kentucky’s attention, anyway.

“Coach Antigua told us, ‘Man, early in the recruiting process we really like him. We’ve got so many people that have told me about him,'” Dennis Johnson added. “He got to see him in Orlando (FL) the first session of the EYBL and watched some of his video. So just getting in the gym and seeing him more, he said I’m gonna come to some games and get him over to a few games to watch us.“

Sheppard and Perry have rightfully earned headlines for their in-state play the last couple of years, but Johnson might just be the best overall prospect of the group.