Prime UNC Basketball Target Draws High Praise, Talks Potential Visits

A teammate to a 2024 UNC basketball signee continues to sizzle and is still considering a trip to Chapel Hill.

Photo credit: Katie Goodale-USA TODAY NETWORK

Link Academy (Mo.) junior guard Jasper Johnson, a full-time starter alongside a locked-in future UNC basketball player in senior center James Brown, is a long-distance sharpshooter who has admitted to growing up a fan of the Tar Heels. He received an offer from Hubert Davis in September.

Despite his UNC fandom and the persistent Tar Heel pursuit, the 6-foot-4, 170-pound five-star, No. 12 overall on the 247Sports 2025 Composite, has not checked out the program in person. A visit remains a possibility, though, according to Johnson's chat with 247Sports' Eric Bossi at the Quincy Shootout in Illinois over the weekend.

He told Bossi that Alabama, Baylor, Kansas, Kentucky, and Southern Cal also have a shot at landing an upcoming official visit.

And as Bossi suggested in the following breakdown of his 24-point Saturday performance, which included five 3-point makes, the winner of the Jasper Johnson sweepstakes will be getting a smooth perimeter gem with an ever-expanding skillset:

"Link Academy is loaded with talent, and pretty much anybody can step up on any given night. On Saturday, it was five-star guard Jasper Johnson who was doing the damage. [He] was feeling it from deep early and often and showed off why he's one of the nation's premier scorers from deep.

"While his jump shooting is certainly his strength, Johnson is gradually showing more and more ability to create for himself off the rim, is finishing with some bounce around the rim, and he's also a more than capable playmaker for others."

Jasper Johnson, a native of Lexington, Ky., has already taken a couple of unofficial visits to Kentucky, as well as official visits to West Virginia, Georgia Tech, and Missouri back in the fall.

All eight of the other 2025 recruits on the UNC basketball wishlist are also five-star prospects: guards Cayden Boozer, Isiah Harwell, and Darryn Peterson, plus forwards Cameron Boozer, Caleb Wilson, Koa Peat, Bryson Tiller, and AJ Dybantsa.

The Tar Heels are still awaiting their first 2025 commit.

UNC Recruiting: Two-Sport Five-Star Visiting Tar Heels

Stay tuned to All Tar Heels on SI.com for more on Jasper Johnson's plans and other UNC basketball recruiting news.