Casper College basketball coach Joel Davidson and his staff announced today that they have signed another highly regarded frontcourt player. The new signee, Jake Johnson of Reno, Nev., should help fill the void at the postposition left by Georgia State signee, Deninson Burguillos. Johnson is a 6-10, 225-pound big man from Reno High School. This past season, Johnson was an All-High Desert League 2nd Team selection, averaging 15 points per game, 11 rebounds, five assists and three blocks per contest for the Huskies. He was voted to the All-North First Team and the Reno Senior All-Star Game. The three-year varsity player was also on the Nevada Wolverines AAU program, which includes top 100 player (class of 2013) Hunter Myers.
"The thing that really caught my eye while recruiting Jake was his motor and how hard he plays," Davidson says of the 18 year-old who he says is still growing. "His ability to change shots with his long arms and his jumping ability at 6-10 makes him a pretty high commodity. He has some room to grow but he is fluent on the block and is really good facing up to the basket off the block. His athleticism at his size will give most other post players problems."
T-Bird Assistant Coach Dan Russell established a good relationship with Johnson and his AAU coach Garry Hill-Thomas after visiting the school, according to Davidson. "Jake thought that was the deciding factor in him choosing Casper College over Salt Lake Community College, Southeastern Illinois, and North Idaho."
Before deciding that the junior college ranks was the right direction, Johnson was being sought after by several Division 1 basketball programs including Montana, Nevada, Weber State, Northern Arizona, and Sacramento State. He will have a tremendous impact on the T-Bird program this upcoming season "because of how hard he competes every possession" according to Davidson.
Johnson will add depth and competition to an already talented frontcourt stable for the T-Birds. Remi Dibo returns for his sophomore season and incoming freshman Lew Evans 6-10 (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Mantas Adomaitis 6-9 (London, England) give Casper great size going into the new campaign. Davidson says he expects to add two more frontcourt players to this recruiting class.