Sticking together
- Updated: April 18, 2023
Jacksonville twins Caden, Camren Johnson mark their signing to play basketball for Shelton State Community College
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sport Today
JACKSONVILLE — College basketball teams don’t have big rosters and don’t often sign large classes, let alone multiple players that essentially fit the same profile.
Then again, a pair like Jacksonville twins Caden and Camren Johnson doesn’t come around often.
“They’re than talented,” Jacksonville coach Tres Buzan said. “If you talked to college coaches, and I said, ‘I’ve got 6-4, 6-5 combo guards that can shoot, put it on the floor and play defense,’ I think they’re trying to sign guys like that all the time.”
Caden and Cam Johnson helped Jacksonville win back-to-back state basketball championships together, and they hope to have another productive two years together at Shelton State Community College.
The twin, 6-foot-5 wing players celebrated their signings Tuesday in Jacksonville’s school library. They announced their signings via social media on Feb. 26.
Caden Johnson averaged 15.3 points and 6.3 rebounds this past season. He had 11 blocks and 44 steals.
Cam Johnson contributed 13.4 points and 4.2 rebounds with eight blocks and 44 steals.
Both scored more than 1,000 points in their high school careers.
They came up together through the Jacksonville feeder system, playing together since they were 5. Of course, they wanted to play together in college.
“We didn’t know if we’d be able to go to the same place, but we’ve always wanted to be together and go to that same spot together,” Caden Johnson said. “It feels great to know I’ve got my twin going with me that I’ve been playing with my whole life.”
Their recruitment picked up after Jacksonville played in the Huntsville City Classic in December, Buzan said, and they had no shortage of offers to go play together. They said they chose Shelton over offers from Snead State, Gadsden State, Calhoun and Bishop State.
All of those schools offered both players.
Shelton State will get more than twin combo guards. Buzan described both players as “gym rats.”
“Me and Caden used to go to the gym every day,” Camren said. “When we were small, we used to go to the rec. We’d stay in the gym for four or five hours, maybe more, just shooting the basketball.”
One-on-one battles were all about “making each other better,” Caden said, even when they challenged each other verbally.
“It was just kind of like, I try to get into his head, and he tries to get in my head,” Caden said. “We just try to make each other go harder on the court.”
Cover photo: Camren Johnson (center left) and twin brother Caden Johnson pose with coaches (from left) Corey Mize, Tres Buzan Shane Morrow and Lane Patterson during Tuesday’s signing ceremony in the Jacksonville High School library. The Johnson twins will play for Shelton State Community College. (Photo by Joe Medley)
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