Jasper Johnson, left, has a personality that teammates like and believe will help make him a special player this season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky fans will get to see freshman Jasper Johnson for the first time at UK’s Pro Day Monday and then again at Big Blue Madness on Oct. 11. He’s the highest ranked high school recruit coach Mark Pope has brought to UK, a popular native Kentuckian and son of former UK all-SEC defensive lineman Dennis Johnson.
“I love Jasper. He’s good,” UK point guard Jaland Lowe said. “Off the court, he’s probably the funniest person I’ve been around. He’s like a little kid. He’s got a lot of energy that’s amazing to have around here.
“He’s a naturally gifted player. That’s something that you can’t deny at all. Seeing him come in here the first week and just have fun immediately and just play his game and not really succumb to the other guys was impressive. It’s just fun to see because that kid’s super confident. He’s super talented. He’s gonna be ready for a big year.”
Lowe has no doubts, either, about Johnson’s physicality and him being able to hold up physically in his first collegiate season.
“At any level if you can play, you can play. You have guys of all different shapes and sizes. If you hoop, you can hoop and he can hoop,” Lowe said.
He also believes Johnson will benefit from having teammates like Denzel Aberdeen, Otega Oweh, Mouhamed Dioubate and himself to mentor Johnson.
“My freshman year, I looked up to older guys and leaned on them when I didn’t really know what was going on. Having gone through that and seeing where he is talent-wise, I feel like we’re just going to help him go to another level by competing with him every day and bringing the best out of him,” Lowe said.
“He’s gonna bring the best out of us, too. As young as he is, even though he’s a freshman, he’ll come back and he will bark at us, too. There will be some battles, for sure, but he’s gonna be more than ready to play a big role for us this season.”
