How Dior Johnson went from 5-star recruit to 6 college commitments to Tarleton State

Billy Heyen

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How Dior Johnson went from 5-star recruit to 6 college commitments to Tarleton State image

Dior Johnson was never meant to end up at Tarleton State.

He was once one of the most promising recruits in the entire country, a guard who could do everything on a basketball court.

But his journey has been anything but a straight line, and Johnson is in his first regular season week now at a school that wasn't even a Division I program when Johnson was a 5-star recruit.

Johnson opened the season with 23 points, and now he and his teammates take on high-major LSU on Wednesday night.

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This is how Johnson got here:

Dior Johnson teams, career timeline

Johnson's saga is quite winding, and it began even before college.

He was one of the most promising basketball players in New York state history, dominating varsity games as a seventh- and eighth-grader for Saugerties High School.

He briefly attended IMG Academy as a freshman, then went to Findlay Prep in Nevada.

After Findlay Prep closed, Johnson went to Hillcrest Prep in Arizona, which he left before his sophomore season began.

Johnson was expected to play at Fairfax in Los Angeles, but ended up at Mayfair High School nearby instead.

After that, Johnson went to Oak Hill Academy but didn't play after a leg injury. He went to Centennial High School in Corona, California, but didn't play as a junior.

As a senior, Johnson started his season at Prolific Prep in Napa before transferring to SoCal Academy.

All the while, college coaches wanted Johnson. He committed to Syracuse in Feb. 2020 but decommitted nine months later.

In June 2021, Johnson picked Oregon.

A year later, he decommitted again and instead chose Pittsburgh.

Johnson redshirted at Pitt, then was arrested for simple assault and strangulation and announced as no longer enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh.

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He went to Clarendon College, a junior college in Texas, where he averaged 29.7 points per game.

Johnson was considered the top JuCo transfer and ended up at UCF.

For the Golden Knights in 2024-25, Johnson played only 7.4 minutes per game and scored 2.5 points per night.

And after that season at Central Florida, Johnson went into the transfer portal.

He chose Tarleton State, and his nomadic basketball life continues on.

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Senior Editor