Plant City native Johni Broome announced his commitment to Auburn University last month and is set to join the Tigers after two years of basketball with Morehead State University in Kentucky.
With roots in Plant City that span generations, Broome grew up playing basketball in Plant City’s rec league, baseball at Plant City Little League and football with the Plant City Dolphins, a youth football organization where his father still coaches today. Once at the high school level, he spent two years at Plant City High School where he played both football and basketball before narrowing his focus to strictly basketball and transferring to Tampa Catholic.
Broome ultimately committed to Morehead State and was thrown into the starting lineup as an 18 year old freshman following a teammate’s preseason injury.
In that freshman season Broome averaged 13.8 points and nine rebounds per game while racking up accolades. By season’s end — playing in the Ohio Valley Conference — he had garnered OVC Freshman of the Year, first-team All-OVC, OVC All-Newcomer Team, OVC All-Tournament Team, OVC Tournament MVP and nine different OVC Freshman of the Week awards en route to MSU’s first conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011. As for MSU, Broome set freshman records for total rebounds (271) and blocks (56).
Over the summer, after the NCAA passed new rules allowing collegiate athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness (NIL), Broome returned to his hometown and worked with his parents to set up his first basketball camp at the Sadye Gibbs Martin Community Center.
“When the (new NIL rules) hit, I like to give back to the kids where I’m from, so I immediately thought about some ways that I can impact these kid’s lives and play basketball with them, the game I love,” Broome said. “The first thing that came to my mind was a camp. After that I called my mom and dad, talked to them about it and they said it was a good idea so we just went from there.”
As a sophomore, Broome led the Eagles to a 23-11 record and a second consecutive appearance in the OVC Conference Championship behind a team-high 16.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.9 blocks per game. His mark for blocks was good for the third-best mark in Division I college basketball last season, and his mark for rebounds was ninth-best. Broome was named OVC Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 and his 131 total blocks were not only a single-season record for MSU, but finished as a higher total than eight other OVC teams as a combined unit.
Broome announced that he would be entering the transfer portal in early April, and after being contacted by a laundry list of Power 5 schools, he announced his commitment to Auburn and head coach Bruce Pearl on April 30.
Auburn finished last season 28-6 and No. 8 in the final AP poll, earning a second seed in the NCAA Tournament after falling to Texas A&M in the SEC Conference Tournament, ultimately losing to Miami in the NCAA Tournament’s Second Round. The 6-foot-10 Broome will step in to help re-ignite an Auburn front court that just lost two first round NBA Draft prospects in Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.