Recruiting Report: Deante Johnson (2018)
Already with six Division I offers to his name, Deante Johnson’s recruitment has gone very well over the past year, and now comes time for schools to dazzle him.
The 6-foot-8 Detroit Edison forward has existing offers from Northern Kentucky, Cleveland State, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Toledo and Oakland.
Other schools are keeping close tabs on him.
“Teams that are interested in me right now are VCU, Miami-Ohio, Temple, New Mexico, and then Michigan gave me a call,” said Johnson.
“I’m planning on visiting schools in September and October, around that time, some official, some unofficial.”
Johnson has no exact timetable for when he might make his college decision; it could be next month, or he might wait until spring.
“My decision depends on how the visits might go. If I’m liking the school and I really like what they’re saying to me, the academics and the curriculum at the school, then I might make my decision a little earlier,” said Johnson.
”At the end of the day, my decision might take a little longer, like the end of the season.”
Whatever school does end up with him, will be getting a natural leader, and a guy with a persistent desire to get better.
“Over the last year or so, I’ve made a lot of development as a leader on the court and as a player,” said Johnson who says a traumatic experience two years ago made him work harder than ever.
“My sophomore year I had an injury, and that made me want to go harder, because I realized that one bad injury could make this all go away. My junior season I became more of a leader and went harder than I ever did.”
It’s his perimeter skills that he’s worked to improve the most over the past season, making him one of the more versatile threats in Michigan’s 2018 class.
“As a player, I’ve developed more with my strength, my handling and my jump-shot. And I’ve become a better player for my senior year,” said Johnson.
“I’m a guy who you can just throw me on the floor and make plays. You can put me on the wing, put me on the box, I can bring the ball up the floor if you need to me to. I’ll just get the job done.”
During his 17U season, Johnson bounced around a bit, and played with both Mean Streets and The Family. It was an eye-opening experience for him.
“I think I had a good summer for the most part. Going against the top players in the EYBL really allowed me to look at myself and ask myself ‘what do I need to do better?’ And I got in the gym and worked on that stuff,” said Johnson.
“I felt like some of the stuff they were doing, I could be doing the same thing to be as highly ranked as they were. So I was in the gym working on those things too.”
Heading into his senior season with the Pioneers, Johnson is as determined as ever to get his guys back to the state tournament.
“My role is going change a lot,” he said. “I’m going to need to be a bigger leader on the court. And I have to make sure the team gets it done this year, because it’s my last year.”