Shaka Smart and the VCU basketball program were looking for a shooter to help fill the void that Troy Daniels’ will leave once he graduates after this season. The staff had been on the trail for some time looking for a shooter and they have found their man in highly-touted 6’2 St. Benedict’s/NY Gauchos guard Melvin Johnson. Johnson had previously been committed to Miami before opening up his recruitment. He was pursued by a number of high major schools both before and after he opened it up and is considered a top-100 recruit by ESPN (85), Rivals (99), and Scout.com (76). He joins Jordan Burgess as a consensus 4-star ESPN/Scout/Rivals recruit and the 2nd ESPN 100/Rivals150 player in VCU’s 2012 class.
ESPN profile: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/126605/melvin-johnson
Scout profile: http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=5541448
Rivals profile: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Melvin-Johnson-117224
Johnson is not a superlative athlete but he is a versatile scorer both going to the basket and shooting it from the perimeter. He gives VCU another potent weapon in a lineup that is looking to make its mark on the A-10 in VCU’s inaugural season in the conference. Getting a consensus top-100 recruit this late in the recruiting cycle is an absolute coup for Shaka Smart and underscores the wave of momentum that VCU’s basketball program is riding on as well as the proficiency of the VCU basketball staff in capitalizing on it.
Johnson looks to provide some nice scoring punch to complement the high-octane havoc defensive pressure system that Shaka Smart has been building over his tenure at VCU with an exciting offensive game. As a late 2012 signee he will enroll immediately and begin working out with the team in order to get prepared for the upcoming 2012 season. Johnson is a late but pleasant surprise to what looks to be a very good incoming freshman class with Jordan Burgess, Justin Tuoyo, and Mo Alie-Cox.
