With July soon approaching, coaching staffs are identifying their top targets for the summer as well as trying to get their number one priorities to commit before more schools can get involved. Cory Johnson, a 6-foot-7, 213-pound small forward from Duluth (Minn.) East High School, listened to one Big 12 staff and decided now was as good as time as any to commit.
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Johnson decided he didn't want to wait until the end of the summer to pick his future home. He committed to Iowa State on Wednesday morning.
"They've been recruiting me for quite a while now and they only had one scholarship left to give so they told me that they were going to look around for some other guys in July," Johnson said.
"That made me think about it and I thought, 'What am I waiting for?' I decided that I wanted to play for a school that had a role for me and play for a school that's been recruiting me from the start. Coach Morgan has a good plan for me and I want to go somewhere that I'm wanted."
Johnson said he wanted to make sure Iowa State was the place for him so he asked head coach Wayne Morgan if he could attend a summer camp with the team in order to help make up his mind.
"I told Coach Morgan to let me come to the camp and get a feel for the guys down there and that's what I did. I'm usually a talkative guy but I went down there kind of as an observer," Johnson said. "I felt like I could really get along with the guys down there and it's a place where we could compete. Plus it's only five and a half hours away from home. My parents can come and see me play."
After he decided that Iowa State was the best place for him, Johnson knew he had to call the other schools recruiting him, including the hometown Minnesota Gophers.
"That was probably the toughest call I've ever had to make in my life," Johnson said. He also considered Creighton and Boston College.
A bruising forward with nice face up skills and undervalued athleticism, Johnson is a nice compliment to fellow class of 2006 commit P'Allen Stinnett, an athletic two-guard from Las Vegas. Best of all, Johnson is willing to take on the whatever is best for the team mentality.
"I'm a guy that's multi-positional and a guy that's going to work hard and do what I can to fill my spots. I can hit the jumper but I know they like to run the floor and their first option is for the guards on the fast break," Johnson said.
"I know I can be the guy that fills the second option if we pull it out and run some offense. I can be a spot up shooter or someone that can make a quick move to the basket. I also know that it's my decision on what kind of player I want to be. I know I need to develop into a valuable player."