Prep basketball star Jasper Johnson returns to Kentucky, plays in front of UK’s Mark Pope
The scene that unfolded Sunday night at the new Woodford County High School gym in Versailles was emblematic, in all ways, of what high-level prep basketball has become, with a specific Kentucky twist.
First, the details.
For the second-straight year, class of 2025 Kentucky basketball signee guard Jasper Johnson was the star attraction surrounding a homecoming game in Versailles, the Central Kentucky city located about 13 miles west of Lexington.
Johnson — a five-star recruit who is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 18 player in the 2025 recruiting class — scored 31 points and was named the game MVP as his RWE team, part of the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite program, took down Huntington Prep (West Virginia) 71-70 in a competitive contest.
Johnson’s high-scoring effort came in front of several notable Kentucky basketball figures. UK head coach Mark Pope took in the game alongside his wife, Lee Anne, and another class of 2025 UK signee, Great Crossing High School (Georgetown) center Malachi Moreno.
Current UK freshman guard Travis Perry was also on hand for the contest, and posed postgame for a photo with Johnson.
Sunday’s game was also a homecoming for another highly ranked college basketball recruit from the commonwealth. Taylen Kinney — a five-star guard in the class of 2026 — scored 13 points for RWE in the win. Kinney began his prep career at Newport High School in Northern Kentucky.
Johnson, Kinney and Moreno were all at Rupp Arena on Saturday night for Kentucky’s home loss to Arkansas, which marked the return of ex-UK coach John Calipari to Lexington.
Once the win was secured for RWE, the real show began.
A capacity crowd of more than 2,000 fans at Woodford County spilled over onto the court, led by adoring kids and teenagers angling to get a photo with Johnson, Kinney or any of their teammates who are full-blown social media stars thanks to the Overtime platform. Kinney has more than 455,000 combined followers on Instagram and TikTok. Johnson has North of 95,000 followers on Instagram. The RWE team Instagram page has more than 500,000 followers, too.
After the crowd was corralled into order, a 45-minute autograph session followed. Everything from photographs to phone cases were signed by RWE players.
Finally, almost an hour after the game ended, Johnson was able to sit back and reflect on his night back in his old Kentucky home, and ahead of his full-time return to the commonwealth later this year as a UK player.
“It means a lot, because I know I was a kid one day looking up to players like I am now,” Johnson said of the wild postgame scene. “It’s great to be able to play in front of them, put on a show and then sign some autographs. Maybe it’ll uplift them. You never know when somebody’s going through something, but just being human and expressing and giving back.”
Last year’s homecoming for Johnson also came with a level of pomp and circumstance. In January 2024, Johnson was still a highly sought after college basketball recruit when he returned to Versailles to play a game at the old Woodford County High School gym, affectionately known as “The Hive.”
Johnson was part of a star-studded Link Academy (Missouri) prep team which also beat Huntington Prep in a matchup that pitted Johnson against five-star class of 2025 guard Darryn Peterson, a former UK recruit who is going to Kansas.
On that occasion 13 months ago, Johnson scored a game-high 37 points in front of several college coaches and recruiters, including Calipari, then the head coach at UK.
Kentucky’s offseason coaching transition from Calipari to Pope didn’t slow down Johnson’s recruitment by the Cats, though. Johnson committed to UK in September from a final shortlist of schools that also included Alabama, Arkansas, Louisville and North Carolina.
Johnson committed to UK during a ceremony at The Hive.
“Now that I’m committed to the University of Kentucky, there’s a lot more eyes on me,” Johnson said. “So I have to be a lot better, play at a high level. And I’m a senior, so this is probably the last time I’m going to play high school here (in Versailles).”
“It’s definitely a big (upgrade),” Johnson said of the new Woodford County High School, which opened this year with a new $75 million building. “Going to the old gym, I had plenty of late-night workouts and there would be bats flying around and stuff like that, rodents running across the gym. So, happy that they got a new school in and they can continue to build the (basketball) program.”
Johnson was a star player at Woodford County who helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the semifinals of the Sweet 16 state tournament in 2023. Johnson’s father, Dennis, is a former Harrodsburg, UK and NFL football player who currently serves as the head football coach and athletics director at Woodford County.
Both of Johnson’s homecoming games over the past two years have been billed as the Court XIV Classic and have been played in the memory of Alvis Johnson, the legendary Harrodsburg High School football coach, educator and administrator who died in July 2023. Jasper Johnson is a grandson of Alvis, who also worked as a UK athletics administrator.
“It feels great, being able to come back and play in front of all of my supporters, fans and stuff like that. And coming out with a win was the best part of it,” Johnson said. “It feels fun to be able to play at a high level and honor my grandfather.”
Johnson is one of three members of Kentucky’s 2025 high school recruiting class, which ranks fifth in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite. Johnson is joined in UK’s incoming high school class by fellow guard Acaden Lewis and the aforementioned Moreno.
Of this trio, only Moreno was selected last month as a McDonald’s All-American, with Johnson considered to be one of the surprise omissions from the group of 24 high school standouts.
“We talk often, since the commitment,” Johnson said of his relationship with Moreno. “But I’ve known Malachi since we were little kids, talking to him and playing against him, stuff like that. Our relationship is really close. Talking to him and Acaden, building our relationship for next season.”
“Love Coach Pope, can’t wait to play for him next season,” Johnson added about seeing Moreno and Pope at Sunday’s game. “I talked to (Pope) briefly at halftime. He just told me ... he’s happy to be here, told me to have fun and enjoy the night. So that’s what I did.”
“I know Malachi is my future teammate next year, coming out and supporting me. ... Our dream is about to come true, slowly. It’s great to see them on the baseline cheering me on.”
Taylen Kinney returns to Kentucky with Overtime’s RWE team
Kinney, who is still a high school junior, scored 13 points for RWE in the win and made the game-deciding free throw with just seconds left on the clock.
“The intensity was crazy. I’m not going to lie, in the first half (I had) butterflies. There was so many people,” Kinney told the Herald-Leader postgame.
“It felt good,” Kinney added about stepping up to the foul line with the game in the balance. “I put a lot of reps up.”
A former standout at Newport, Kinney helped lead the school to appearances in the Sweet 16 state tournament in both 2023 and 2024, and he also powered Newport to the small-school All “A” Classic state championship last season.
The 17-year-old Kinney had plenty of family and friends on hand in Versailles for Sunday’s game, as evidenced by his constant flow of handshakes and photos postgame.
“I had a lot of family and friends here today. It means a lot, to come back and put on for my city,” Kinney said. “It’s a lot of those kids that look up to me now. Just showing them that hard work can take you anywhere.”
Kinney also noticed the presence of Pope, who is trying to recruit him to Kentucky. Kinney is working with a top-15 list of schools that includes, in full: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, Notre Dame, Oregon, Purdue, Tennessee and Xavier.
“I noticed him,” Kinney said of Pope, the UK coach who was seated beneath one of the baskets. “I’ll probably talk to him after this.”
As teammates on RWE, Johnson has used his opportunities playing alongside Kinney to help aid Kinney’s on and off-court development. And yes, this has included some slight nudges by Johnson toward UK with Kinney’s recruitment.
“(Kinney) is always growing, challenging me every day in practice, me challenging him as well,” Johnson said. “Us challenging each other, picking each others’ brain, watching film together and stuff like that. I definitely think he’s taking the game at a great pace. Being a point guard out there, getting us in our sets and stuff like that. ... I feel like he’s performing highly.”
Kinney recently took an official visit to Purdue.
Woodford County, Trinity also win in Court XIV Classic
Sunday’s Court XIV Classic was a tripleheader that also featured two games between Kentucky schools, in addition to the nightcap between Huntington Prep and RWE.
In the first game, hometown Woodford County defeated Taylor County 66-53. Woodford senior Armelo Boone — a former standout at Lexington’s Frederick Douglass High School who will be playing collegiately at Western Kentucky — led the way for the Yellow Jackets with 23 points.
In the second game, Louisville’s Trinity High School defeated North Laurel 50-43. The Shamrocks are led by junior Jayden Johnson, a four-star recruit in the 2026 recruiting class. Johnson, a shooting guard, had seven points, five rebounds and three assists in Trinity’s win.
Johnson has reported scholarship offers from the likes of Arizona State, Southern California and Xavier, among other schools.
This story was originally published February 3, 2025 at 7:57 AM.
