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UCF landed a commitment Monday from former four-star guard Dior Johnson, who once ranked as the No. 53 overall player in the 2022 recruiting cycle by 247Sports. Johnson played this past season at Clarendon Community College in Texas and was the top-ranked JUCO player in the 247Sports rankings.
Johnson originally committed to Syracuse in high school before flipping his commitment to Oregon months later. Johnson signed his National Letter of Intent with the Ducks before asking out just five months before the start of the 2022-23 season.
After Oregon granted his release, Johnson signed with Pitt. His college transiency reminded experts of his high school days, as Johnson was associated with nine different high schools as a prospect.
Johnson never played a game with at Pitt after he was suspended from after being charged on October 6, 2022 for accounts of aggravated assault, strangulation, unlawful restraint, simple assault and false imprisonment. Johnson pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to a year of probation.
If Johnson indeed suits up at UCF, it will be his first collegiate basketball game.
Johnson is expected to headline a new-look roster at UCF that features former four-star guard Mikey Williams. The former Memphis guard never appeared in a game and pleaded guilty in November to a gun charge that may lead to six felony counts being reduced to misdemeanors if he meets the terms of his plea agreement.
UCF will also welcome Moustapha Thiam to campus after the four-star center reclassified up to join the Knights for the 2024-25 season. Thiam ranked as the No. 39 overall player in the 2024 recruiting rankings by 247Sports.
Central Florida head coach Johnny Dawkins, a former all-time Duke basketball guard and longtime assistant under Mike Krzyzewski, has guided the program to the NCAA Tournament only once, ending in a dramatic Round of 32 defeat at the buzzer to the 2018-19 Blue Devils.
That season marked the second 24-win campaign in his first three years at the helm. However, the Knights haven’t reached 20 wins in a season since.
At 9-3 this go-round but with no victories over high-major opponents, Dawkins’ eighth UCF squad likely needs a few handfuls of impressive wins across its inaugural Big 12 schedule — a daunting slate starting with four currently ranked foes in its first five games — to have any shot at earning an at-large bid to the Big Dance.