One player that Mark Pope has to have in Kentucky’s 2025 recruiting class is five-star shooting guard Jasper Johnson. The 6’4, 175-pound guard currently plays at Link Academy in Missouri, but he is from Kentucky and previously attended Woodford County High School.

Johnson is ranked as the 11th-best player in the 2025 class, according to On3, and he is a perfect fit for Coach Pope’s offense. Knowing that Johnson’s dad played football at Kentucky, he is a player Coach Pope just can’t play anywhere else.

Currently, On3’s recruiting prediction machine gives Kentucky the lead in this race with a 75% chance to land Johnson. The next closest school is Alabama, at 4.7%.

Johnson has been on campus to meet that new staff and recently went on KSR, so Kentucky definitely has a chance to land this elite recruit, but there is work still to be done.

Seeing Johnson play for another school will be a tough sight for Big Blue Nation, so the Wildcats need Coach Pope to get the job done and keep this elite guard in the state of Kentucky.

Here is Adam Finkelstein of 247Sports scouting report on Johnson, ” Jasper Johnson is a southpaw scoring guard who has spurts of extreme tough shot-making when he gets hot. He has a super soft natural touch and is very crafty around the lane with a deep bag of runners, floaters, and other types of finishes, in addition to the jumpers and step-backs he’s capable of making from the perimeter. Physically, Johnson is lean, but he’s very long with a recorded +5 wingspan. In addition to building up his body, he also needs to learn to impact the game more when the ball isn’t in his hands, or more specifically when he’s not on one of his scoring sprees.”