‘Everything here is good for me.’ How is future Kentucky player Jasper Johnson developing?
While Mark Pope’s first Kentucky basketball team continues a stellar 2024-25 season, it remains worth keeping an eye on the Wildcats of the future.
Pope, whose first UK squad is now 14-3 overall and 3-1 in SEC games, has three players signed in the 2025 high school recruiting class, and several other irons in the fire when it comes to potentially growing this group.
Guards Jasper Johnson and Acaden Lewis, along with center Malachi Moreno, are the three high school recruits signed to play for the Wildcats next season. Kentucky has the fifth-best recruiting class in the country for 2025, according to the 247Sports Composite.
Pope has already spoken extensively to the Herald-Leader about each of these newcomers, and the on- and off-court traits that indicate a positive fit with UK’s style of play.
But for Johnson in particular, his senior year development before arriving at Kentucky is taking place on a major stage.
Johnson — a former Woodford County High School standout and the son of former Harrodsburg, UK and NFL football player Dennis Johnson — is spending his final high school season at the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite (OTE) program. As a sophomore in 2023, Johnson led Woodford County to the Sweet 16 state tournament semifinals. He played his junior season at Link Academy, a prep program in Missouri, before transferring to OTE for his final pre-college season.
With the help of the 24-7 basketball environment at OTE, the 6-foot-4 Johnson said he’s made key strides in his game ahead of his college career.
“I feel like it’s been good adjusting, getting everything I need in my daily schedule to help me get better as a player and as a person,” Johnson told the Herald-Leader during an interview at OTE’s facility in Atlanta’s Atlantic Station neighborhood. “Eating three meals a day. Lifting, getting stronger, adding weight. And also doing the basketball side of it: My workouts, shooting, ball handling, watching a lot more film and growing my IQ as well. Everything here is good for me.”
Johnson is averaging 20.7 points, 5.8 assists and 1.9 steals per game during the OTE regular season. He’s shooting an even 50% from the field and 36.3% on 3-pointers.
“I’d definitely say my body,” Johnson said when asked what his biggest area of basketball growth has been since debuting for OTE’s RWE team in September.
“A lot of coaches are telling me that they’d like to see me gain some more weight (and) get stronger in certain areas of my game to help me with driving or getting to the free-throw line and stuff like that.”
With adding muscle and weight a recent focus, how has Johnson been able to adjust the way he plays?
“Definitely fighting and playing through contact, driving,” said Johnson, who was announced Wednesday as a member of the 2025 USA Men’s Nike Hoop Summit roster. “Just trying to create shots for others or myself. Using my body differently to create more space between me and my defender.”
Johnson’s career thus far at OTE has already featured a few memorable moments. This includes sinking a shot from the opposite 3-point line immediately after recording a steal in a December game.
Ranked by the 247Sports Composite as a five-star prospect and as the No. 16 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class, Johnson said Pope and other Kentucky coaches continue to provide him with points of emphasis to work on as his college career creeps closer.
“He likes to tell me to improve every part of my game that I can,” Johnson said. “Talking to Coach Pope, he wants me to really work on my jump shot, really try to perfect it. (UK) shoots a lot of 3s, so I’ve got to come in and be able to shoot at a high clip. I also have a high assist-to-turnover ratio as well (1.6 assists for every 1 turnover during OTE regular-season games), so just working on my ball handling and stuff like that.”
Jasper Johnson introduced Acaden Lewis to Rupp Arena crowd
All three Kentucky basketball signees for next season — Johnson, Lewis and Moreno — have been introduced at Rupp Arena this season during a timeout of a UK game. Each player has been met with warm applause from the Rupp crowd, with fans relishing the chance to welcome these players to Big Blue Nation before they represent UK in a game.
But Lewis’ introduction in a second-half timeout during Kentucky’s New Year’s Eve victory over Brown came with a twist.
It was Johnson — a proficient, but usually reserved speaker — who gave the address introducing Lewis to that day’s spirited crowd.
Johnson read a list of Lewis’ accomplishments and accolades off a phone before pausing to let Lewis — a four-star guard from Washington, D.C. — soak in the atmosphere.
“I had to read my script, prepare. It was fun to do that,” Johnson recalled. “They already had something typed up for (Acaden). They just gave me the phone and told me to read it over, and we went from there.”
The trio of Johnson, Lewis and Moreno continue to foster a bond with one another before they arrive in Lexington as freshmen this summer. Following that New Year’s Eve game, all three players went out to dinner together with their families.
“Definitely building that relationship between us three, talking off the court and stuff like that, just about life,” Johnson added.
