The Kentucky Wildcats are off to a hot start with the basketball class of 2025 after receiving two top-25 commitments.

With the latest commitment, 5-star guard Jasper Johnson, coming last Thursday, he joins 4-star center Malachi Moreno as the first two players to commit to Mark Pope and his staff in their first full recruiting cycle.

What makes it even better? They are both from the Commonwealth. Making it even sweeter was that Johnson committed to Kentucky over SEC rival Alabama and blue-blood rival North Carolina.

In a recent interview with WLAP’s Sunday Morning Sports Talk, Johnson mentioned that playing for Pope and his staff was the best opportunity.

“I was down to 3-to-5 schools, but I was really just praying about it and talking to my family, seeing the pros and cons of each and every school. I feel like Kentucky was the best opportunity for me to grow as a student-athlete,” Johnson said while later adding that Kentucky was “where my heart was.”

Although Pope was late to the game in this recruitment, he quickly made up the gap for Johnson to commit to Kentucky.

“They had a short span with a couple of months to recruit me, but I feel like Coach Pope was very consistent. He was using his time to come and see me or FaceTime me, all of that,” said Johnson. “I always like talking to Coach Pope. It’s great to build a relationship, and I’m excited to keep building our relationship.”

It also helped that Pope had some assistance from arguably the best recruiter in any sport who’s currently at UK: Football associate head coach Vince Marrow.

“Vince (Marrow), you know, he’s family to me,” Johnson said. “He made a couple of jokes and stuff here and there early on about coming to Kentucky, but he wasn’t pressuring me or anything. He always told me to go where I feel like I can develop the most and get to the next level. He never really pressured me or anything, but Vince is family, so he just told me to keep basketball the main focus and the people around me will take care of the rest of it.”

Long-time friends with Dennis Johnson, who played at Kentucky and was a former All-SEC pass-rusher in Lexington, Marrow’s relationship with Jasper’s dad made a positive impact in his recruitment.

“He (Vince) wanted me to just go somewhere where my heart was, and Kentucky ended up being that place,” said Johnson.

Marrow has been instrumental in helping Kentucky football bring in the caliber of recruits that’s helped this program notch eight straight bowls, two 10-win seasons, and a host of NFL Draft picks.

Now, the hope is Marrow’s impact will help Kentucky basketball with the addition of Jasper Johnson to its 2025 class.

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