Melvin Johnson knows about upheaval and misfortune.
Instead of preparing for what should’ve been a huge senior year at legendary Rice High School in Harlem, he’s across the Hudson River at New Jersey powerhouse St. Benedict’s Prep because of Rice’s closure for financial reasons.
So he wasn’t going to hold it against new Miami coach Jim Larranaga and his staff over what happened with the previous regime. The wild allegations of recruiting violations within the basketball and football porgrams detailed in a Yahoo! Sports report never bothered Johnson.
“I already know what they’re about,” the 6-foot-3 sharpshooter from Harlem said of Larranaga, the former Archbishop Molloy High School product who took George Mason to the 2006 Final Four. “Nothing is going to happen.”
While other recruits may have been scared off, Johnson never was, and Sunday afternoon he verbally committed to the ACC school – as first reported by The Post – becoming Larranaga’s first commitment in the 2012 class.
Coming off a big summer on the AAU circuit with the Long Island Lightning that included MVP of Hoop Group Elite Camp Session I, Johnson picked the Hurricanes over Virginia Tech, Georgetown, South Florida, Dayton and the College of Charleston.
“It was the right place for me,” he said. “I felt very comfortable. I feel great. It’s a great conference. I have a lot of hard work to do.”
Georgetown came in recently and wanted to bring Johnson on a visit, but had expressed interest in him as a point guard, which isn’t his natural position. Miami sees him as a combo guard in its up-tempo attack, a deadly spot-up shooter who will stretch opposing defenses.
“Melvin can really score the ball,” one Division I assistant familiar with Johnson said. “He’s an old school player that knows how to play. All the Northeast high-majors really missed the boat.”
Johnson loved everything about Miami after his official visit two weekends ago. He already had a good relationship with the coaching staff from the time they spent recruiting him while at George Mason and he felt an immediate bond with the team. He stayed with former Rice standout Durand Scott, who showed him around South Beach.
“They were really grounded and down to Earth,” he said. “I didn’t have to try to fit in. They embraced me.”
Upon returning home, Johnson took his time. He didn’t want to rush a decision, just based on a visit. But whenever he was on his own, he kept thinking about the school. The Jay-Z/Kanye West song entitled “No Church in the Wild,” played everywhere he went.
“When I was down there I kept hearing it and I got to like it,” he said.
Kind of like Miami.
