Gophers Richard Pitino has made Jarvis Johnson a high priority since he arrived on campus.
Jarvis Johnson, a 2015 point guard from Minneapolis (MN) DeLaSalle, received a scholarship offer from Minnesota in April. Johnson helped lead the Islanders to its second Class AAA state title as they finished 30-1 and were undefeated against in-state schools.
Gopher Hole recently caught up with Johnson to learn the latest on his recruitment.
Gopher Hole: Have you had a decent number of coaches come out to the high school for open gyms recently?
Jarvis Johnson: We had a couple, but there are have a couple of low majors checking out Sacar (Anim), Josh and a couple of others.
Gopher Hole: What is the latest on your recruitment right now? How many offers are you up to? Is it hard to keep track?
Jarvis Johnson: To be honest, I don’t even know off the top of my head. It is around nine or twelve or somewhere around there.
Gopher Hole: Who are the most recent offers?
Jarvis Johnson: I couldn’t even tell you. It has been awhile since someone has offered.
Gopher Hole: You have Minnesota, Creighton, Northern Iowa. Did Michigan State offer you?
Jarvis Johnson: No.
Gopher Hole: Cincinnati?
Jarvis Johnson: No.
Gopher Hole: I had read that they had, but I wasn’t sure that was accurate.
Jarvis Johnson: You see, the thing with that is I keep in contact with the coaches and some websites say it is an offer and some said it isn’t. I am not really too sure, but I don’t want to speak on any.
Gopher Hole: What things have you been really focusing on to get ready for a big junior season?
Jarvis Johnson: Just staying in shape and like I said before, my shooting and just trying to lead the team.
Gopher Hole: You were at the Gopher football season opener earlier this fall. Have you been to any other games?
Jarvis Johnson: No. I went to the UNLV game. That was pretty fun. The crowd was nice and they got the “W.”
Gopher Hole: Do you have any other plans to go to a football game?
Jarvis Johnson: I plan on going to a Michigan State football game and a Wisconsin game coming up soon.
Gopher Hole: What are you hearing from the Gophers?
Jarvis Johnson: Ben (Johnson) and I are pretty close, so he came to open gym last week and we are still keeping in contact.
Gopher Hole: High expectations at DeLaSalle and you added a couple of transfers in Malcolm Porter (son of Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Terry Porter) and 6-foot-7 freshman Goanar Mar. How will that affect your team having those two new kids?
Jarvis Johnson: I would say in practice getting Reid better every day, because there are not too many people who can guard Reid in practice and Goanar is going to be a good fit for us. I think that he will do well. Malcolm is still really young. He has some learning to do.
Gopher Hole: Have you thought about making some visits once the college basketball season starts?
Jarvis Johnson: Not really. I haven’t thought about it.
Gopher Hole: What would it mean to play for the home state school?
Jarvis Johnson: That would be fun. Seeing my family get to come to a lot of games. Lot of friends in the city. It would be pretty fun.
Gopher Hole: Have you had a chance to go down to Iowa State to see your sister yet?
Jarvis Johnson: I went once. I stopped by when I was going to Kansas, so I got to see her.
Gopher Hole: Are you going to try to make it down to one or two of her games?
Jarvis Johnson: We’ll try. When we don’t have a game or practice, I’ll try to get down.