Kansas State Basketball Player Preview: Nigel Johnson

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

As we continue looking forward to the start of college basketball season in early November, our early preview of the team continues with incoming freshman Nigel Johnson. Johnson, a freshman guard from Ashburn, Virginia, stands at 6’1″ and is another piece of Bruce Weber’s intention to continue playing small ball at K-State. He was a three-star recruit out of high school with offers from several smaller schools but only one BCS member (the Wildcats). He played on the prestigious D.C. Assault AAU squad as a prep player.

Seeking stronger competition and more exposure, Johnson played his senior season at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. He led his team with 17.9 points and 2.3 rebounds per game and was named a First Team All-Metro player by the Washington Post. As a member of the D.C. Assault team, he followed a line of prominent former Wildcats to play on the squad including Michael Beasley, Rodney McGruder, Jamar Samuels and Dominique Sutton.

With the departure of Angel Rodriguez last semester (and graduation of back up Martavious Irving), K-State was left scrambling to find a point guard. While coach Bruce Weber was interested in trying out Johnson for the position, it’s looking like Will Spradling will assume that responsibility the first semester before sliding over to shooting guard when Jevon Thomas – another freshman – becomes eligible to play the position. As such, it looks like Johnson won’t be seeing a lot of immediate playing time. This is a young Wildcat team and Weber is expected to rotate players on a fairly regular basis in attempting to find the best balance among his youthful squad. While K-State returns an experienced core, Johnson will be one of several underclassman utilized to round out the team.

Click a link below to read the rest of our player previews:

Brandon Bolden
Marcus Foster
Thomas Gipson
Wesley Iwundu
D.J. Johnson
Jevon Thomas