Player Spotlight: Dakari Johnson (2018)
If you’re a D1 coach in Dallas this weekend and you’re deciding on which games you will be watching, you should go ahead and put Garner Road on your list if you’re in the market for a 2018 PG. The way I crossed paths with young man years ago basically explains what he’s all about, we met in the gym, with he and his father putting in a high amount of work in a small amount of time. Dakari Johnson is a young man that you won’t see show a lot of emotion, you won’t see him hanging out and getting in trouble, if you want to find him then you most likely just need to go to the nearest gym. This week for Village Christian its Spring Break, for many kids this is a time to go to the beach , sleep in , and sit back to relax. Not for Dakari Johnson though, I bumped into he and his father going through a ‘‘light’’ workout at about 9am which lasted about two hours in which I saw him putting up all types of shots at game speed. At one point he had to have knocked down 20 treys and deep midrange shots in a row before missing a shot, he was locked in throughout and you could tell he was preparing himself mentally and physically for the upcoming weekend.
We spoke with Dakari’s coach at Village Christian Kurt Darden about Dakari and here is what he had to say. “Dakari is one of the hardest working players I’ve ever coached. I’ve been able to watch him improve and add to his game every year. He will be able to play and will get recruited at a high level because he can make perimeter shots. In addition he is very strong and will be able to play right away at any level. This year he carried us in several games and put on some of the top performances in state during the playoffs where he scored 18 points in the first quarter of our semifinal game. The next day he scored 15 points in the third quarter alone of the championship game after being down 9 points at halftime. Special players do things like that.”
So far he holds one scholarship offer from Longwood and has been receiving interest from multiple other D1 programs, it’s astonishing to me that more programs haven’t offered but I strongly believe that will change sooner than later.