As the top prospect on the radar for Mark Few and his coaching staff, the recruitment of Demarquise "Que" Johnson has become the prime story to follow heading into the start of the regular season. After flying below the radar for the past year, Que saw his recruitment explode following a dominant summer performance for Team Eleate. Not surprisingly, Mark Few and Donny Daniels were present at nearly every one of his games in Las Vegas, along with a handful of other high-major head coaches.
With Demarquise set to take his official visit to Gonzaga next weekend, we were able to check in with his father, Tommy Johnson, to learn more about Que and his recruitment.
This is an interesting part of the recruiting calendar, as most coaching staffs have focused in on their top targets. Therefore, it's not surprising that the Gonzaga staff has scheduled an official visit with Que and is also working with Tommy Johnson to setup an in-home visit.
"As far as I know, Gonzaga has been recruiting him since February, and maybe even earlier than that," Tommy Johnson explained. "He seems to really like the head coach and has a good relationship with him. They have been trying to setup an in-home visit, but so far, the dates they have sent haven't worked out with my schedule."
While the four-star recruit is scheduled to take four official visits before making a decision (WSU, Gonzaga, UW and UNLV in that order), there are a few key things he is looking for on each visit to help with a decision.
"I know he is looking for a good relationship with the coaching staff," said Johnson. "He also wants to have a chance to play early on. He's also looking at the gameday atmosphere at the school."
With those being some of the key focus points for each official visit, Tommy Johnson pointed out some of the particular things that Que would be looking at during his visit to GU.
"He will be looking to get a feel for the coaching staff. He also wants to talk to some of the players and get to know them and get a feel for them."
Although it has become commonplace for recruits to commit early in the process, it seems that Que will be taking his visits before making any sort of decision.
"He is going to take four of his visits before making a decision," Johnson revealed. "After his visits we will sit down and talk about committing and the pros and cons of each school. One thing that he has always said to me is that he will know where he wants to go, because he will feel it in his heart."
We would like to thank Tommy Johnson for taking the time for this interview and we plan to keep in touch with him over the next couple of months for the latest on Que and Gonzaga.