Gonzaga Contacts 5-Star Guard in 2027 Recruiting Class

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Andy Patton | Last updated Jun 16, 2025 3:46 PM ET

Sunday, June 15 was the first day college basketball recruits in the class of 2027 could be contacted directly by coaches, and Gonzaga's staff wasted no time going after one of the highest rated prospects in the class.

Dooney Johnson, a 6'5 guard from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, told Sam Kayser of League RDY that Gonzaga was one of many schools that contacted him when the recruiting period opened up, alongside Kentucky, Wisconsin, Marquette, Indiana, Minnesota, BYU, Washington, LSU, Nebraska, Cincinnati, and others.

Johnson is a five-star prospect ranked No. 27 in the 2027 class according to 247Sports' composite rankings, which also have him as the No. 3 ranked shooting guard.

247 actually values him even more, ranking him No. 19 in the class and No. 2 among shooting guards.

2027 Top-30 wing Dooney Johnson has heard from the following schools since yesterday, he told @LeagueRDY:

Indiana
Kentucky
Wisconsin
Marquette
Washington
Gonzaga
Oklahoma State
Nebraska
Minnesota
LSU
BYU
Cincinnati
Western Michigan
St. Louis
Southern Utah
Bradley

Native of… pic.twitter.com/T5Su8N9TWp
— Sam Kayser (@KayserHoops) June 16, 2025

Johnson has great positional size and a strong feel for the game, and is the kind of prospect Gonzaga loves to get involved with early in the recruiting cycle.

So far he's the only known target for the Zags in the 2027 class, although the staff has their hands full with a litany of high profile targets in 2026 - including No. 1 overall recruit Tyran Stokes, No. 10 ranked Ikenna Alozie, and other high profile prospects Toni Bryant and Sam Funches.

Gonzaga will officially join the Pac-12 conference ahead of the 2026-27 season, and the influx of money from the new media rights deal should allow coach Few and the Zags to be even more competitive on the recruiting trail - which could help explain the program's interest in so many high profile 2026 prospects, a phenomenon that appears to be making its way to the 2027 group as well.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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