After an Impressive Sophomore Season, Kobe Johnson is Poised For a Special Junior Campaign
In Kobe Johnson‘s freshman season at Sun Prairie, you could often spot the guard sitting on the bench while his brother, Jalen Johnson, led the Cardinals to a state appearance. Despite a somewhat limited freshman season, Johnson had a great summer with Phenom U and was able to work his way into a starting role on Nicolet during the 2018-19 season. Johnson went from appearing in just five games during his freshman season to averaging 10.3 points per game after transferring to Nicolet. With the Johnson brothers and other top talents, Nicolet didn’t lose to an in-state opponent throughout the entirety of the 2019 season. Kobe Johnson’s transformation from limited role player to legit D1 prospect was impressive, and he is not finished yet.
Starting at point guard on Nicolet’s state championship team as a sophomore, Johnson said, “I feel like [my sophomore season]; it went pretty well, you know transferring here to Nicolet, me and my brother faced a lot of backlash, but we got to Nicolet and they embraced us into their culture. Throughout the whole year, I felt like I got so much better than I was freshman year. The whole team just stuck together and we fought through everything together. But I’m looking forward to getting better and coming back next year and getting another state championship,” said Johnson. Losing just one starter from last year’s team, the Knights are already overwhelming favorites to snatch the D-2 state title.
After Nicolet’s historic season, Kobe flipped the page to his second go-round with Phenom University. Playing for Phenom’s 16U team, Johnson said, “I feel like it’s going good so far, our team is still developing, and once we get that down, we will be an unbeatable team. But personally, I am just trying to improve each and every tournament so I can reach my full potential.” Johnson and his Phenom teammates could be hitting their stride. Kobe recently led his team to a championship at NY2LA’s Invitational this past weekend.
As a result of his great sophomore season and his already impressive spring, Johnson holds offers from Indiana State and DePaul. Johnson also says that he is hearing from some more notable programs. The guard says that he is receiving interest from Wisconsin, Marquette, Auburn, and UW-Milwaukee. More offers are sure to roll in as he continues to improve and become a more complete player.
Many colleges are showing interest in the 6’5″ point guard because of his special skill set. “My court vision and my passing ability [sets me apart.] I kinda learned some of it from Jalen, who is no doubt the best player in his class, but just watching and learning from him helps me with all that,” stated Kobe. Johnson’s ability to dissect defenses with his passing was a major reason why Nicolet’s 2018-19 season was so successful. When defenses were forced to latch onto Jalen Johnson, Jamari Sibley, and James Graham Kobe could still get them the ball, regardless of how tightly they were being defended.
While his passing skills are already polished, Johnson still has other aspects of his game that he would like to improve. “I can improve basically everything in my game, but the thing I would say I need to work on the most is my ball-handling because in tight situations I need the ball in my hands and I need to be able to make a play for my team.” If he can make some more improvements and becomes a more complete point guard, he will be a tough matchup for any defense.
With a sterling sophomore season under his belt, expect Johnson to impress through his final years in high school. Kobe is already a huge talent and seems to have an unlimited ceiling as an upperclassman and beyond.