A day after Ben Johnson opened his first season with the Gophers men's basketball team, he is expected to sign three Minnesota natives in his first full recruiting class.
Park Center's Braeden Carrington, Park of Cottage Grove's Pharrel Payne and Prolific Prep's Joshua Ola-Joseph will officially be members of the Gophers' 2022 class to open national signing day Wednesday.
Carrington was the first local high school prospect to commit to the Gophers after Johnson was hired to replace Richard Pitino on March 22.
The 6-4 senior guard felt he was a priority for Johnson and his U assistants in the spring and summer recruiting period. He made his decision shortly after an official visit in August.
"I'm that guy who bought in first," Carrington said earlier. "It's a rebuild, but I really do believe we can be good in my time here."
Payne, a 6-9, 230-pound senior, was offered a scholarship by the Gophers when he wasn't recruited by many power conference schools. He remained loyal to the home-state program when earning a top-100 national ranking at the end of the summer.
After transferring from Osseo to Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif., this fall, Ola-Joseph has already played against some of the top prep schools in the country. But the explosive 6-7 wing is still excited about returning home to play for the U next season.
This will be the most Minnesotans in one Gophers recruiting class since Pitino signed Daniel Oturu, Gabe Kalscheur and Jarvis Omersa in 2018.
