High School

Washington's top 2022 guard, Koren Johnson, to transfer to Wasatch Academy in Utah

Johnson burst onto the Seattle high school scene as a sophomore, flashing a tight handle, an ability to create his own shot and score on all three levels.

Andy Buhler, SBLive Sports

Washington's top 2022 guard, Koren Johnson, to transfer to Wasatch Academy in Utah
Washington's top 2022 guard, Koren Johnson, to transfer to Wasatch Academy in Utah /

Garfield High School 6-foot-2 junior combo guard Koren Johnson will transfer to Wasatch Academy in Utah for the 2021-22 season, his senior year, the boarding school announced Sunday.

Johnson burst onto the Seattle high school scene as a sophomore, flashing a tight handle, an ability to create his own shot and score on all three levels. He is widely considered the No. 1 class of 2022 player in the state and holds offers from Arizona, San Diego State, Loyola Marymount, among others.

RELATED: Dan Dickau ranks Koren Johnson No. 5 overall recruit in Washington

Wasatch Academy will be a part of the eight-team National Interscholastic basketball Conference, a collection of some of the top programs in the country, competing on an ESPN-televised schedule against the likes of Oak Hill, Montverde, La Lumiere and Sunrise Christian.

He'll follow in the footsteps of former Eastside Catholic point guard Nolan Hickman, who transferred to the boarding school in Mt. Pleasant, Utah for his senior season and thrived playing a national high school schedule. Hickman, now a 5-star signed with Gonzaga, was named a McDonald's All-American and Utah's Gatorade Player of the Year.

Johnson has played with Garfield during the 2021 spring high school season, which was shortened in Washington due to the pandemic. The Bulldogs are 7-3 coming off of a loss in the first round of the Metro League playoff.

His top highlights playing for coach Brandon Roy at Garfield include scoring a team-high 22 points to lead the Bulldogs past top-seeded Eastside Catholic in the 3A state tournament in 2020, scoring 34 points at Eastside Catholic earlier that season and scoring 40-points and hitting a buzzer-beater in a win over Seattle Prep on May 22.

(Lead photo by Vince Miller)

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Andy Buhler, SBLive Sports
ANDY BUHLER, SBLIVE SPORTS

Andy Buhler is a Regional Editor of Texas and the national breaking news desk. He brings more than five years of experience covering high school sports across the state of Washington and beyond, where he covered the likes of Paolo Banchero and Tari Eason served on state tournament seeding committees. He works on the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 national boys basketball rankings. He has covered everything from the Final Four, MLS in Atlanta to local velodrome before diving into the world of preps. His bylines can be found in The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), The Associated Press, The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), The Oregonian and more. He holds a degree from Gonzaga and is based out of Portland, Oregon.

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