Jakayla Johnson couldn't have asked for a better freshman year in the junior college ranks.
A WBCA All-American, first-team all-conference selection, and a No. 1 national ranking for Jones College in Mississippi made for a tremendous start to Johnson's collegiate basketball career. She averaged 15.8 points per game, shot 40 percent from the field and had six games with at least 20 points – including a high of 39 – during the 2020-21 season.
She was one of the nation's top junior college players heading into her sophomore year at Jones, even ranked No. 1 by some publications.
But five games into her sophomore year, she suffered a season-ending ACL injury, and her junior college career was over.
Fortunately for her, the second semester had not yet begun. Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris – who had been close with Johnson since early in her high school career – offered her the opportunity to enroll at Auburn a semester early, taking advantage of the resources available at the Division I level to help with both her rehab and her growth as a basketball player.
"Auburn had all these resources," Johnson said. "Everything I needed was laid out in front of me. And Coach Harris talked with my coaches at Jones. She was like, 'Hey, is it cool if JK goes ahead and comes now? We can get her rehabbed, get her going." I could learn the plays, watch the position I would be in this year to play."
So Johnson joined the team last January, watching practice, sitting through meetings and film sessions, and – most importantly – going through the rehab process with Auburn's athletic training staff.
"It helped me grow as a person," she said of being at Auburn through the 2022 spring semester. "It helped me to learn that you don't always have to go fast … like slow down sometimes. I got to learn the plays. I got to buy in more with good relationships with the people around Auburn. It made me get closer with my teammates."
Still in the rehab process, Johnson is on track to be cleared for full participation near the start of Auburn's official practice, which is currently slated for Sept. 27.
"It's been great," she said of her progress in rehabbing her knee. "I'm eight months in now, and I'm getting ready to hopefully get cleared for contact. It was a long process. Tearing the ACL isn't easy, and this is my third one. So you really have to put in the work and be determined, because there's going to be days where you're not uplifted, but you have to keep yourself going."
Auburn was a natural fit for the Clinton, Mississippi, native after Harris took the job here in April of 2021. Johnson had gotten to know Harris while she was part of the staff at Mississippi State, but she went the junior college route out of high school. That relationship with Harris and her year-plus at Jones helped prepare her for being a contributor at the SEC level, she said.
"She taught me how to play in the SEC at a young age," Johnson said. "I got to see what it's like to be in the SEC and what Coach J expected – like, how her style of play was, she wanted to dribble drive … you want to do this based off the playing style. And that's what I was looking for coming out of high school, what type of style I would fit in and what type of school would be the best fit for me. It's like our spirits connected when I talked to Coach J.
"Coming from Mississippi where high schools don't have shot clocks, I was kind of scared to go into college playing with a shot clock – how am I going to get a shot up in 30 seconds? So Jones taught me how to be patient and score within the 30 seconds, and helped me get ready for where I am now."
Heading into her first season at the SEC level, Johnson has loved her Auburn experience so far and can't wait to see what a full basketball season will bring.
"(I'm looking forward to) being healthy and not getting injured again," she said. "We have good team chemistry, good relationships with the coaches, the strength coaches, everyone around us. And to win championships. Just to win. I haven't taken many losses in my life. So that's what I want to do – win championships."