Cal basketball recruiting: Jayce Johnson reclassifies to 2015, a Cal vs. Utah battle?

Update: Johnson will join the Utes, because we haven't lost to them enough this week.

One interesting tidbit of recruiting news that has nothing at all to do with Cal football but does have to do with a Cal-Utah battle. Cuonzo Martin and Cal basketball might have a late season addition on their hands.

Jayce Johnson recently visited Cal and is honing in on a decision. Johnson is considered a four-star center in the 2016 recruiting class, but Johnson has recently decided to reclassify to 2015. Jerry Meyer of 247Sports had this story.

247Sports is hearing from multiple sources that the recruitment of 2016 four-star big man Jayce Johnson has narrowed down to California and Utah.

The wrinkle in the recruitment of Johnson, 6-11, 225-pounds out of Santa Monica, California, is that he intends to enroll for the second semester and then likely redshirt.

The second wrinkle is that California has an available scholarship while Utah does not. Johnson, however, could pay his own way this first year.

Evan Daniels also noted that Johnson eliminated Stanfurd on the way. Here are the details of his reclassification.

"He transferred to a charter school on Monday," said the Johnson family source. "The NCAA has deemed him an earlier qualifier - based on 4.0 GPA and ACT scores - which means all they need is a diploma and final transcript.

"He should have that in six weeks at the charter school, which is fully accredited and NCAA approved. He needs to finish a couple classes for state graduation requirements."

If Johnson were to commit to Cal, he would join the Bears in the winter of 2016 and get extra conditioning and workouts before debuting on the court at Haas Pavilion a year from now.

It doesn't seem like Johnson would play this year (and with Kingsley Okoroh and Kameron Rooks at center the Bears don't need a 5 this year), but would be used for development and could help continue to bulk up big man depth. Some comparisons have been made between Johnson and Jeff Withey, a solid four year big for Kansas. The Bears could sure use those type of talents who stay for that long!

Of course, Utah did have the lead for Johnson, but the reclassification does feel like a good sign for Cal to get in the mix. What are your thoughts?