USC basketball target Jaxon Johnson commits to Utah and Craig Smith

USC loses to Utah.

Four-star small forward Jaxon Johnson committed to Utah basketball on Thursday. His final four schools were BYU, Stanford, Utah, and USC.

Brody Kozlowski committed to USC last week and hosted Jaxon Johnson on an official visit, but the Stanford Cardinal were in the mix to land Johnson Thursday with BYU and Utah close behind. Utah’s win could therefore be seen as a genuine surprise. The Utes were not the clear favorite here.

Johnson plans to serve his LDS mission right after high school and will enroll at his next school in 2026.

Johnson is On3’s No. 99 overall player in the 2024 class, standing at 6-foot-8 and 190 pounds. The Sandy (Utah) native averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.9 steals per game in 2022-23.

This recruitment gives fresh momentum to head coach Craig Smith, who is trying to remake the Utah program after inheriting relatively meager rosters in his first two seasons on the job. Utah has not had nearly the amount of offense needed to keep pace with the upper-tier teams in the Pac-12. When star Branden Carlson was injured last season, Utah did not have a consistent Plan B option on offense. The Utes are trying to build depth and increase offensive talent on their roster. This recruitment helps in pushing the Utes toward their goals.

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