Kentucky transfer Jasper Johnson makes his commitment

Jasper Johnson is leaving his Old Kentucky Home — and he’s going 2,400 miles away.

The Lexington native, previously rated as the No. 25 overall prospect and No. 9 shooting guard in the Rivals Industry Ranking, has committed to Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks.

Johnson was rated as the No. 173 overall player in the On3 Industry Ranking and No. 36 at his position after averaging 4.9 points, 1.6 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per contest across 35 games as a freshman

He came to Kentucky as Mark Pope‘s highest-ranked recruit of all time, choosing to stay in Lexington and play for his hometown Wildcats, following in his father’s footsteps as a former All-SEC pass-rusher for the program from 1998-2001. At the time, Pope called him a ‘dangerous gravity guy’ who ‘has a chance to be a really, really special player here in Kentucky, for sure.’

That’s not how things would unfold for Johnson, who played just 20 combined minutes in three SEC Tournament games and eight combined in two NCAA Tournament games with 11 total shot attempts in that stretch for 10 points. Known as one of the most talented bucket-getters in high school basketball before arriving as a Wildcat, he’d finish with just five double-figure scoring performances — three coming before Christmas against low-major competition.

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Once the season came to a close, Pope admitted that Johnson got the short end of the stick following Jaland Lowe’s season-ending shoulder injury, forcing him into a backup point guard role rather than being the ‘dangerous scoring two guard that he was brought here to be.’

“Jasper Johnson had moments of his season that were super frustrating for him, for sure,” he said. “It really wasn’t fair to ask him to play the backup point guard role, but it was something we needed.”

Local fans wanted to see Johnson see the process through in Lexington, running it back in year two with an expanded role and greater opportunity to prove himself wearing the blue and white. That did not happen, as he decided to enter the transfer portal and explore his options, searching for a better fit.

He found it in Eugene as the newest Oregon Duck — we’ll call it the reverse Will Stein.

Best of luck to Jasper at his next stop.