The Florida Gators staff has a new name on the recruiting board and it is guard/wing Jalen Johnson (6-6, 170, High Point, NC Wesleyan Christian Academy) who has several schools in hot pursuit of him.
“Florida, USC, Alabama, Providence, Miami and Tennessee,” Johnson said of the schools recruiting him the hardest. “I talk to most all of the coaches at Florida but I talk to Coach [Mike] White a lot mainly.”
White and the Florida Gators basketball team only have one commit in the class of 2016 and they are telling Johnson that he can be an asset to Florida.
“His message is that he thinks that I’m a really good player and that I have high upside,” he said of White’s message to him. “He likes my athletic ability and my ability to shoot. He says that I’m athletic wing player and that he could use me in his system.”
When Johnson isn’t talking to White the chances are that he’s talking to another Florida Gators basketball coach and they are sharing a similar message as White does to Johnson.
“The other coaches are pretty much telling me the same thing that Coach White does,” Johnson said. “They all tell me that I’m athletic and they love my ability to shoot the ball and that they I’m an athletic wing player.”
The athlete wing player is in the process of setting up official visits and one to Gainesville is in the works.
“I have one scheduled to Providence for the 18th of this month,” he said of upcoming visits. “I had a visit scheduled to Florida but my mom said that we rescheduled that visit. I have to call them and reschedule everything with them so that I can get down there for an official.”
Despite never visiting Florida before the North Carolina native says that he’s very high on the Florida Gators basketball program.
“I want to make a decision before the season but I have to be comfortable with my decision,” Johnson said. “I don’t have any leaders but I do like Florida a lot.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Johnson has a lot of interest but he did seem concerned about his official to see the Florida Gators basketball team rescheduled. If Florida pushes for Johnson then the Gators have a great shot to land him.