247: NC State Still in the Mix for 5-Star Guard A.J. Johnson

NC State recently missed out on 4-Star Shooting Guard Silas Demary Jr., who committed to Southern California, but it looks like they are still in the mix for 5-Star 2023 Guard A.J. Johnson of Donda Academy in California.

Johnson was scheduled to take an Official Visit to NC State on September 24th, but it was postponed, and he fully intends on still taking it. The Wolfpack offered Johnson on July 13th.

He spoke with Brandon Jenkins of 247Sports, and had this to say about the Wolfpack.

“They are in the mix for sure,” Johnson said. “I mess with the coach. He keeps it real. He came all the way to California to talk to me. I had a really good conversation with him so I am still going on that visit. I just wanted to make sure I was not bailing out on my high school team. I wanted to stick with them and not miss any early practices.” (247)

At one point, Johnson was shooting for late October to reschedule. If he does take one at the end of the month, it would likely be sometime around NC State’s football game against Virginia Tech on Thursday, October 27th.

He is scheduled to take an Official Visit to Louisville on October 21st, and has already taken Official’s to LSU and Texas.

Johnson is a consensus 5-star player, and is ranked as high as 9th nationally by Rivals, who also rank him as the #1 Shooting Guard in the nation. ESPN and ON3 list him as a Point Guard, and 247 lists him as a Combo Guard, splitting the difference.

The Wolfpack have recruited talents like Johnson in recent years, even getting commitments out of Josh Hall and Jalen Lecque, who both pursued the NBA draft instead of ever coming to Raleigh. Johnson is open about the possibility of playing in the G-League or overseas professionally, instead of going to college, to prepare him for the 2024 NBA Draft.

Johnson told Jenkins that he would like to make his decision prior to the start of his high school season.