American Fork’s Spencer Johnson drives around Jon Schmidt as American Fork and Bountiful play Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, in American Fork. Johnson, a redshirt freshman at Salt Lake Community College, signed to play at BYU. | Deseret News

By Jeff Call

PROVO — BYU coach Mark Pope’s first official recruiting class features a pair of sharpshooting guards. 

Spencer Johnson, a redshirt freshman from Salt Lake Community College, and Richie Saunders, a senior at Wasatch Academy, have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Cougars.

While Johnson will join the program next season, Saunders plans to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before enrolling. 

“We’re so excited to get Spencer and Richie,” Pope said in a statement. “Spencer is a battle-tested, high-ceiling, tough winner who has a chance to come and make an immediate impact on our roster. He is crushing it in the junior college ranks right now and we expect his to game to continue to grow throughout this season.”

Johnson (6-foot-5, 175 pounds) is averaging 14 points and 6.3 rebounds this season for the Bruins, and he will have three years of eligibility remaining. 

As a senior, Johnson led American Fork to the quarterfinals of the 5A Utah state tournament, averaging 19.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists.

In American Fork, he was named first-team all-state by the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune. After high school, Johnson served a two-year mission in Italy.

Wasatch Academy guard Richie Saunders poses for pictures with coach Dave Evans after Saunders announced he will attend BYU. | Jeff Call, Deseret News

Saunders (6-foot-5, 185 pounds) averaged 11.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals while helping Wasatch Academy to a 26-4 record, a final national ranking of No. 10 in the USA Today Sports Super 25 Expert Rankings and a fifth-place finish at the GEICO Nations in New York City last season.

“Richie is truly one of the elite shooters in the western United States,” Pope said. “Richie is one of the best young men that I’ve ever met. He’s going to leave a great legacy at BYU.”

Pope was asked Tuesday about his experience recruiting at BYU as a head coach. 

“I’ve got an unbelievable product here to sell. This program that’s been built is so extraordinary. These facilities are incredible and this university is like nowhere else in the world,” he said. “Those things have been really fun. It leads to all kinds of off-the-beaten-path conversations that, frankly, I don’t have recruiting anywhere else. Because of that, in the recruiting process, you even have to develop a more intimate relationship with each young man and figure them out even more. I spent more time recruiting freshman here than certainly I did the last four years. That’s a way different dynamic. It’s fun to recruit to a place that’s as special as this place, for sure.”