K.J. Johnson doesn’t want to rush his college decision
From being a freshman – not getting much playing time – to being one of the top combo guards in the 2019 class, K.J. Johnson is just living in the moment.
Johnson is less than a month away from starting his senior year of high school at Marshall County. He has to focus on all of his classes, and prepare to lead the varsity basketball team to a state title. From a social standpoint, Johnson wants to make the best of his senior year with his friends, who he may or may not see for months or years once he walks across the stage.
So, what’s the rush for Johnson to make a decision on where he will attend school? There’s no need to rush. He should take his time.
He will have close to nine months to do so. Maybe the right offer from a Division 1 program hasn’t come yet or Johnson is happy with all of his offers, but is having a difficult time choosing between them.
Johnson, who’s 6-foot-2, holds offers from Campbell, Southeast Missouri, UT-Martin, North Alabama, Morehead State, Tennessee Tech, and Samford. Western Kentucky, Northern Kentucky, Lipscomb, Murray State, and East Tennessee State are showing interest.
“I’m just going to take my time,” Johnson said. “It’s not going to be too far away, but I’m just enjoying the process right now, and having fun with it. It doesn’t matter where I go. I just want to go to a school where I can fit in, and help the program out a lot.”
With barely nine months left before he graduates from high school, Johnson is finding ways to focus on his schoolwork and trying to become a better guard before he makes his college decision.
“I’m just continuing to stay focus, so I can gain as much interest as possible,” Johnson. “I want to keep having fun with the game, especially with my senior year coming up.”
It doesn’t matter if Johnson is playing off the ball or being a playmaker with the basketball in his hands. Johnson can be a tough matchup because of his quickness in one-on-one situations and long range shooting. He’s a specialist from deep, but can drive to the basket. He admitted he needs to find other ways to score.
“By shooting the way I do, I make it easy to drive,” Johnson said. “I have been working on more ways to create space to get to the basket more, so it will be harder to guard me.”
The great thing about Johnson is that he can create spacing and scoring opportunities for his teammates, and has all of the key ingredients of what it takes to be a combo guard.
“It helps my teammates out,” Johnson said. “It spreads the floor out, creates spacing, so they can do their thing on the court.”