Maki Johnson still remembers the day he first met Brooks Savage with near crystal clarity.
Like almost every school that brings in a player for a visit, East Tennessee State had a presentation planned for Johnson, a three-star prospect at the time out of Huntington Prep in West Virginia. Johnson had seen how it worked with other programs, so he was surprised to see Savage take a more hands-on approach.
“He wasn’t like a head coach that was having the managers hook up all the electronics. He was doing it himself,” Johnson said. “And then he would present by himself. He didn’t have a whole bunch of people doing stuff for him. He was doing it himself. He was a servant leader.”
It reminded Johnson of his dad, an AAU coach in West Virginia. And the type of coach that Johnson aspires to be, one day.
The connection was immediate. The commitment followed shortly thereafter, making Johnson the first basketball player to pledge to Savage at ETSU.
More than three years later, Johnson is still in Johnson City. He’s spent his entire college career to date with ETSU, making him a rarity in this era of the transfer portal. There aren’t many guys who spend their whole collegiate career with one program, at any level, much less a mid-major like ETSU.
Why has Johnson stayed where so many others have left? He cites the relationships and connections he’s built, and the fans: “one of the main reasons I stay.”
“His loyalty to the program and wanting to see this thing through, it means a lot,” Savage said.
Johnson finds himself as the most significant, healthy returning player for the Bucs. The word “healthy” does a lot of work there. The Bucs lost preseason All-Southern Conference forward Jordan McCullum to a torn ACL during preseason practice. That news hit home, literally, for Johnson; he and McCullum are roommates.
“Having Jordan out is, it’s gonna hurt us a little bit, but we can still accomplish great things. He was saying it didn’t even seem that bad when it happened,” Johnson said, anticipating McCullum would be back for the Bucs’ exhibition game with High Point in late October. “I would have just thought he hyper extended and he was gonna be back in a couple of weeks. … And then our trainer called him and was like, ‘It’s torn.’
“I was sitting right there with him. … we’re always together.”
With three full years’ experience in the program, it’s Johnson’s voice that rings out in practice. Establishing expectations. Intensity. Culture.
“Trying to embody the style of play and how hard we go every day,” Johnson said. “I try to just sustain that in our team and the new guys.”
Shooting the 3 is a big part of Johnson’s game. He attempted 135 of them, third on the team and tops among the Bucs’ few returning players. He shot at a .385 clip, Those are good numbers but, as Savage pointed out, Johnson’s 3s came in streaks. For example, he made nine 3s last December against South Alabama, part of a career-best 29-point performance.
He identified that performance with nine 3s, or maybe the dunk he slammed against Furman as a sophomore, as his favorite memories thus far as a Buc.
The SoCon tournament back in March won’t make that list. Johnson had 11 games last season where he failed to make a 3-ball. That included the final two games of the SoCon tournament, where Johnson was 0-for-7 from deep combined, and 0-for-5 in the 76-61 loss to Furman in the championship game.
Challenged by the coaches to be more consistent, Johnson has worked significantly on mindset.
“Don’t let a bad game affect the next game,” he said. “If I miss a shot, I miss a shot. And if I make a shot, I make a shot. Don’t let the makes affect me. Don’t let the misses affect me. Just keep going and keep playing hard.”
Savage describes Johnson as “a great positional defender,” adding, “He can really execute and he has a lot of gravity offensively as a back screener, and as a spacer.”
The five out offense that ETSU is running now provides plenty of opportunities to make reads, passes, and yes, shots. That could yield some major opportunities for Johnson to light up scoreboards and box scores, if he can be consistent.
Johnson attributed Dwight Perry, the new assistant head coach at ETSU formerly the head coach at Wofford, as one of the architects of the new look.
“Coach Perry is a great coach,” Johnson said. “He’s very, very smart and it’s a lot of movement. You don’t get stagnant and not know what you’re doing.
“You don’t ever feel like you’re just lost out there,” Johnson added.
With so many new faces, it’s a different look for the Bucs. Johnson, who primarily came off the bench last season, is firmly in competition for a starting role now. He’s eager to blend with an intriguing collection of talent on the perimeter that includes experienced transfers like BJ Ward and Jayden Cooper.
Ward, the only Buc to make the preseason All-SoCon team, arrives with 105 total games of Division I experience and 67 career starts. During this interview in mid-October, Johnson recalled having to guard Ward the day before during practice.
“It was challenging,” Johnson said. “I wouldn’t say fun. He’s just so fast. He’s so hard to guard. Even with our hedging and our defense, Our defense is really good. But, like, he has no problem, just picking us apart.
“I’m a defensive-minded guy because I’ve been here with Savage for so long,” Johnson added. “So when we’re both out there, I’ll just take care of the defense and he just takes care of the offense. It’s like having two coaches on the floor and that makes it easier on coach Savage. You can think about other things that might need to be done during the game.”
Cooper has stood out to Johnson as well.
“His game is very smooth,” Johnson said. “It’s not like a twitchy game. You’re guarding him and then he just slips right past you and you’re like, what? Why is he at the basket and I’m not guarding him?”
As last season concluded, Johnson had one year remaining of college eligibility. After the NCAA adopted a 5-in-5 eligibility model, he now has two. While the eligibility change has been a tough pill for players who graduated high school in the class of 2022, played their four years, and otherwise would be eligible to play this season, Johnson recognizes the opportunity.
“Obviously, I’m glad,” he said. “There’s more things I can accomplish with another year and I can just do great things if I have a whole another year to sustain what I’ve been doing.”
Meanwhile, he’ll keep doing a little bit of everything for the Bucs.
“He’s gotten better and better every year,” Savage said.
Editor’s Note: This article is also included in the I-81 Sports ETSU Basketball Blueprint, a free magazine on ETSU and Southern Conference hoops. We’ll have details on where you can find the magazine soon.