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Three years from signing day, the Class of 2028 is already redefining the next era of women’s college basketball.
Four elite prospects — Tatianna Griffin, Chloe Johnson, Amel Cook and Ella Peper — headline a guard and perimeter group that is being described across the sport as unusually advanced, unusually poised and unusually impactful for their age.
Each is already drawing the full force of early high-major attention as programs build long-range plans around the future of guard play.
"I was at USA with all of these girls and they are all competitive and really good people," said Johnson, who plays for Duluth Marshall. "Our class is really talented and it is going to be exciting to see where everyone ends up going."
The consensus early frontrunner is Griffin, a relentless two-way backcourt force whose size, creativity and competitive engine translate to any system. She scores off the dribble, plays through contact, and defends with the rare combination of strength and urgency coaches covet.
Her upside is evident — a lead option who controls tempo and scoreboard — but like most teenage stars, she is still polishing when to attack, when to facilitate and how to conserve energy across extended high-level minutes without losing her trademark edge.
"Tati is so strong, it’s insane," said Johnson. "She is able to run the point, but she can also post up and finish in the lane really well. She plays high school with a number one point guard in the country, Kaleena Smith. Kaleena’s dad is their coach and he teaches them how to play the right way. She has a good situation year-round and is probably only going to keep getting better."
Johnson, a poised, cerebral point guard with the frame of a modern big-guard floor general, brings a different intrigue. Her game leans on feel — reading coverages, organizing offenses, shooting with economy, and making the subtle passes that change possessions.
She plays as if the geometry of the floor slows down for her, a trait that separates future college starters from future program pillars. The natural challenge ahead is handling ball pressure that escalates with every level, and adding strength to withstand switching, trapping, and the physicality of the position.
Cook is the explosive variable in this quartet — a long, fluid guard who impacts games vertically and horizontally. She plays above the rim’s imagination, not literally, but in how she extends plays and range at both ends of the floor.
Decision-making, especially late in clock and in pick-and-roll reads, will define her arc as much as athletic gifts.
"Amel is pretty quiet but she’s super passionate about the game and respects the work," said Johnson. "She is long and very athletic. She is a super versatile player because of her athleticism."
Peper, at 6-foot-4, bends the floor before the ball even arrives. Listed as a wing, she plays like a tall guard in a shooter’s frame — stretching defenses, punishing rotations, and creating mismatches in every direction.
Her perimeter accuracy and passing touch are already advanced for her age, and she projects as the type of player who forces opposing coaches to rewrite game plans. The next stages mirror those faced by every tall perimeter prospect — strength to battle collegiate forwards, foot speed to defend smaller guards, and the ability to create off the bounce when defenders chase her off the line.
"Ella is one of my closer friends through basketball," said Johnson. "She is a gym rat. She is super long and can shoot really well. She has a turnaround jump shot that is almost impossible to disrupt because of where she releases her ball and her length.
"Besides that I think her dad played at a really high level and the only place Ella ever wants to be is in the gym. I always try to get Ella to come and play some basketball with me, but she just laughs at me. Maybe someday the two of us will be on the same team? That would be so cool."
What unites the four is less about ranking and more about projection. Griffin brings the assertive, national-centerpiece profile. Johnson offers the steadiness, intelligence and size that shape programs for years. Cook injects the upside of velocity — a player who can tilt a game in under a minute. Peper forces recalculation — a shooter with guard instincts in a forward’s body.
None has committed, and that silence is telling. The era of women’s college basketball these prospects enter will be one defined by NIL investment, expanded postseason stakes, and global recruiting. They are arriving at a moment when the sport’s skyline is still being redrawn by the transfer portal, realignment and the rapid professionalization of the women’s game.
For now, their resumes are unfinished, their decisions private, and their ceilings still rising.
But as the nation’s top programs map the late-2020s and beyond, the film sessions begin with the same four names — Griffin, Johnson, Cook and Peper — and the knowledge that whichever coaching staff secures one of them may shape not only its future, but the future look of the sport itself.
