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BOZICH | Catching up with Gavin Wimsatt, David Johnson, Kenya Hunter, Nolan Smith

  • Updated
  • 7 min to read
David Johnson

Louisville's David Johnson works in front of Cardinals' coach Chris Mack during his team's victory at Pitt on Dec. 22, 2020.

 ACC pool photo

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The best high school quarterback in Kentucky decided to take his shot with a program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2014 over opportunities at Kentucky and Louisville.

The best men’s basketball player at the University of Louisville is off to the NBA after less than his best season.

The best moves Indiana made during the transition with its men’s basketball staff was retaining coaches and players.

And the best news of the day was the announcement that a former student at Kentucky Country Day earned a promotion from Mike Krzyzewski at Duke.

Those are some recent headlines. Let’s get to the details.

1. Gavin Wimsatt, the 4-star quarterback from Owensboro High School, listened to recruiting pitches from Kentucky, Louisville, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Michigan, Michigan State and others before he orally committed to ... Rutgers last week.

That’s 3-6 Rutgers, if you think the scoreboard matters in recruiting.

That’s 16-53 over the last six seasons Rutgers, if you think bowl games matter in recruiting.

That’s 818.9 miles from Owensboro to Piscataway, New Jersey, if you think proximity to friends and family matter in recruiting.

Score one for Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano and his offensive coordinator, Scott Gleeson. In a year when all recruiting flipped to Zoom, they obviously convinced Wimsatt that Piscataway was glorious.

“He had a very unique recruitment in that it was almost all virtual,” Owensboro football coach Jay Fallin said. “That began early on in the process. He had to meet with coaches on Zoom and on the phone.

“Whereas normally heading into that junior year and throughout the junior year he would have been taking some visits, that just didn’t get to happen for him.”

Credit Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights lined up three other 4-star recruits in the Class of 2022 as well four linemen ranked among the Top 100 prospects at 247Sports, which has Wimsatt ranked the 89th best overall prospect, the No. 3 dual threat quarterback in the nation and the top prospect in Kentucky.

Wimsatt is a lifelong Owensboro kid. His high school coach, Jay Fallin, said Wimsatt’s parents attended Owensboro High School. Wimsatt came up in the Owensboro youth program. He’s 24-3 in his high school career. He listened intently to recruiting pitches from U of L and UK.

There’s no secret connection to New Jersey or the Big Ten, just a whirlwind recruiting job by Gleeson and Schiano, who currently have a 2022 class ranked No. 6 in America and second to Ohio State in the Big Ten.

“This is not a knock on anybody else,” Fallin said. “Gavin really loved coach (Vince) Marrow and coach (Liam) Coen and coach (Mark) Stoops while being recruited by UK.

“In the end, he just felt very comfortable with coach Gleeson and coach Schiano, and I just felt they did an outstanding job of selling their vision for him and their program.

“He’s excited to be a part of it. He believes they are building something special there ... They have — what is at least at the moment, and it’s a long time until it’s finalized — one of the highest rated recruited classes in the country.”

What is Rutgers getting — and what are the local programs missing?

“He’s got an incredible tool box,” Fallin said. “He’s big, tall, big frame at 6'3" and 200. Rocket for an arm but can also make the short touch passes.

“He’s also cerebral and understands the game. He’s listed as a dual threat quarterback, which I think sometimes gives the reader the impression that they’re not a great pocket passer. That’s not the case with Gavin. He’s got all the skills to sit in the pocket, work all the way across the field, work through his four progressions, check down to his running back and then can take off and run very effectively if need be.

“He’s also just a great young man. Humble. Kind. Cares deeply about his teammates. Always has a smile on his face ... he is truly is, for lack of a better term, the total package.”

2. How important is it for David Johnson to work his way back into the first round of the 2021 NBA now that he has decided to leave the University of Louisville after two seasons?

I’ll share this information and let you make the call. Let’s look at numbers from the 2020 NBA Draft.

Of the 30 players taken in the first round, 21 have already played at least 500 minutes this season. Only one of the top 20 picks, Jalen Smith of Maryland, has averaged less than 10 minutes per game.

Of the 30 players taken in the second round, three have played 500 minutes. Only one of those three, Xavier Tillman of Michigan State, played college basketball.

Pick No. 30, Desmond Bane with the Grizzlies, will earn more than $1.9 million this season.

Pick No. 31, Tyrell Terry with the Mavericks, is scheduled to make $1.28 million.

Johnson’s NBA credentials slipped this season. Call it what you will. He didn’t get better. He was misused. He had to play next to a ball-dominant point guard in Carlik Jones.

If Johnson would have left after his freshman year, he would have been taken no later than the middle of round 2. Before the season, he was a consensus first-round pick. Today, several mock drafts have in the second round or off the board.

This was his chart with Sam Vecenie of The Athletic:

  • No. 12 — Jan. 8
  • No. 27 — March 1
  • No. 32 — March 16
  • No. 49 — April 12

Johnson needs the NBA to return to its pre-COVID world of workouts and combines. He’s an NBA talent whose development stalled at Louisville. It’s his challenge to get his career back on track.

3. While Indiana Athletic Director Scott Dolson recruited Mike Woodson to become the Hoosiers’ new basketball coach, he also made daily calls to assistant coach Kenya Hunter, asking him to stay with the program and entrusting him to keep IU players on board.

Dolson and Hunter did their work well. First, Hunter turned down several opportunities to remain in Bloomington. Hunter was key in getting multiple IU players to remove their names from the NCAA transfer portal, especially guard Parker Stewart.

His relationship with former Pitt guard Xavier Johnson helped convince Johnson to pick IU over Baylor, Houston and St. Joseph’s.

What is Indiana getting in Johnson and Stewart?

“I feel what (Xavier) brings to the table is something we missed a little bit last year,” Hunter said. “Obviously, the talent level as far he has a gift, especially in transition to create, not only for himself but for others.

“I think he’s a guard — first-step wise — who can get feet in the paint. He’s continued to get better with his 3-point shot. There’s still a lot of work to be done there.

“But I think he helps everyone around him to be better. I think he can hopefully find easier baskets for some of our guys, to put them in position to be successful.

“Defensively, I think he can dominate the ball as far as guarding the ball. I think that’s how coach Woodson wants to play moving forward … I think he has the opportunity to come in through his work and his preparation to galvanize the team as far as the leadership. I think we need that on this team to be quite honest.

“I think (Parker) will be one of those guys, especially with how coach Woodson wants to play in transition, where he can run the floor hard and spot up for 3s.

“The thing that excited me, I was gone the last few days but coach (Thad) Matta came up to me and said, ‘Your guy Parker hit 20 for 21 from three and we celebrated that.’

“It’s a situation where he’s known for being a really good shooter. OK, now you’ve done it in practice, hopefully that translates into game scores.”

4. The late Derek Smith talked to me many times about becoming the head basketball coach at the University of Louisville one day. That was one of his coaching goals. Maybe his son, Nolan, can fulfill Derek’s dream.

Smith took another step on his career path this week when Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski promoted him from director of basketball operations to assistant coach.

After leading Duke to the 2010 NCAA title and a brief professional career, Nolan has worked for Coach K since 2016. He earned the promotion after Duke assistant Nate James became head coach at Austin Peay.

Although Nolan never played at Louisville, his Cardinal connections are strong. Derek remains an all-time U of L great, a signature player on the 1980 NCAA champs as well as the 1982 Final Four team. Nolan’s his mother, Monica, is a Louisville native and U of L grad.

Keep an eye on Nolan. Derek started touting him when he was a kid at Kentucky Country Day.

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