Gonzaga’s 2027 recruiting class may only have one commitment so far, but that one pledge is turning into a serious headliner.
Dooney Johnson, who committed to the Bulldogs nearly a year ago, climbed all the way to No. 11 in Rivals’ latest 2027 rankings update released Tuesday morning. The 4-star guard is now the highest-rated committed player in the class, ahead of fellow top-25 pledges Kager Knueppel and Ryan Hampton. Knueppel is headed to Duke, while Hampton is committed to Kentucky.
Johnson’s rise has been fueled by a strong summer after an already impressive junior season at Milwaukee Juneau in Wisconsin. With Team Herro on the EYBL circuit, he stood out at the Pangos All-America Camp, the NBPA Top 100, and especially at Peach Jam, where his team came up just short of reaching the championship game.
He also earned a spot on the EYBL First Team alongside DeMarcus Henry, Beckham Black, Cayden Daughtry, and Lewis Uvwo.
Across 22 games with Team Herro, Johnson paced the squad with 14.9 points per game while adding 3.0 assists and 4.4 rebounds. He did that in just 23.6 minutes a night, which only sharpens the appeal of his production.
The shot is still a work in progress - Johnson connected on 26.6% of his 5.0 three-point attempts per game - but the rest of the package is loud. At 6-foot-7, he gets downhill, makes plays for others, and brings the kind of defensive versatility that points to a jumbo initiator at the college level.
Gonzaga assistant Zach Norvell was heavily involved in his recruitment, and the fit makes sense on paper. Johnson and Norvell share a lot of the same traits: big guards who can score, handle, and defend. Johnson still has to grow into the shooter Norvell became, but the upside is obvious.
The Bulldogs aren’t done in the 2027 class, either. They remain in the mix for two more top-50 targets: Jalen Davis and Gene Roebuck.
Davis, a 6-foot-3 combo guard from Bremerton, Washington, checked in at No. 18 in the updated Rivals rankings. He’s drawing interest from Washington, Stanford, Houston, Oregon, and others, but has stayed in contact with Gonzaga’s staff throughout the summer.
Roebuck, a 6-foot-4 wing from La Mirada, California, landed at No. 44 after a strong run on the Adidas 3SSB circuit. He took an official visit to Spokane last November and is also considering Cal, UCLA, USC, Arizona State, and Mississippi State.
Gonzaga will open the 2026-27 season in less than three weeks at Kraziness in the Kennel, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3 at 2:00 PM PT.
In Other News...
Gonzaga's Nonconference Schedule Will Test How Serious These Zags Really Are
Gonzagas 2026-27 nonconference slate is the sort of early test that usually tells a lot about where the program stands before West Coast play begins. The Bulldogs have 15 games lined up outside league play, with a healthy mix of familiar brand names and less predictable opponents spread across several conferences, plus one non-Division I school mixed in. It is the kind of schedule that asks for depth, maturity and a quick start, especially with first-time matchups and a few teams navigating coaching changes.
The known opponents alone give the schedule a layered feel, and the articles projected difficulty ranking of those 13 games suggests there will be little chance to ease into the year. For Gonzaga, that matters because this is more than just a collection of decent games on paper. It is a chance to see how seriously this group stacks up when the nonconference calendar keeps getting tougher, and there are still a few marquee details in the middle of the schedule that could shape the whole conversation. [Read more 🡒]