ESPN 4-star junior point guard Jeremiah Johnson will be making his second trip to Fayetteville today for the University of Arkansas' Red-White game, but he'll do so this visit with a scholarship offer from the Hogs.
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman extended an offer to Johnson on Thursday.
Johnson, 6-3, 165 pounds, of North Norman (Okla.) High School also has offers from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Illinois, Texas, Tulsa and Texas Tech. He and his father, Jeremy, a North Norman basketball assistant, visited Fayetteville on Sept. 18.
"The thing that stood out to me the most was probably the practice because their's is probably by far the most intense one I've been to so far," Johnson said of the first trip to Arkansas. "There's not a lot of breaks and everything they do is hard, and the thing I like, too, is before practice starts everybody is in there 15 minutes before doing like a little workout."
While his recruitment is wide open, Johnson admits Arkansas wouldn't be a bad choice for him.
"I feel like if I was to go there I know it would definitely be a good decision because I know it would help me a lot on the basketball court," Johnson said.
His father liked what he saw and heard during the first trip to Fayetteville.
"I was very impressed honestly, I thought they had great facilities," Jeremy Johnson said. "I thought they did a good job showing us around and how they do things up there. One thing I really, really enjoyed about them, I felt like they made him a priority. They let us know they're very, very interested in him and that meant a lot to me.
"A lot of things things stuck out to me. The fact they kind of had a plan for him already. I thought those guys had a good presentation put together for us."
Like his son, Jeremy also came away impressed with how the Hogs practice.
"I liked how very detail oriented they are," Johnson said. "I like how they run a pro-style type offense, and they're very guard friendly, and they like smart, high IQ guys."
The younger Johnson said he trades text messages with Musselman every other day while also communicating with assistant coach Clay Moser and director of player development Mike Ekanem.
"He keeps in contact seeing how the season is, and [how] practices are going, and see a time when I can come down there," Jeremiah said of Ekanem.
In February, Johnson was a bystander when gunshots rang out at an Oklahoma City parking lot. He suffered two wounds which required emergency surgery. He's been rehabbing since being discharged, and he said he's at about 90% in his recovery.
"It started out hard," Johnson said. "It's still kind of hard now. The main thing is getting my wind back. To me the hardest part of getting back to myself as far as feeling normal again physically."
He played for Bradley Beal Elite, the same spring and summer basketball program as Arkansas commitment Nick Smith Jr.
"I talk to him a lot," Johnson said. "He's told me nothing but good things about [the Hogs]. Especially about the coaching staff and how they run things up there."
Email Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com