JUCO LB William Johnson (Coral Springs FL/Arizona Western CC)

[Harry]

6'3" 225 lb linebacker from Arizona Western Community College.  Played high school ball in Coral Springs Florida (Pompano Beach HS). Was originally committed to Nebraska and then UAB.  Vito reports on Jan 30, 2016 he has flipped to UNT.  3-star recruit on 247.

highlights:

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2716626/william-johnson

http://247sports.com/player/william-johnson-82066

http://sports.yahoo.com/uab/football/recruiting/player-William-Johnson-173573

Speedy juco LB William Johnson is Nebraska’s fourth 2016 commit (Link)

Recruiting: Arizona Western LB William Johnson decommits, flips to UAB

Arizona Western Profile and Stats

[UNT90]

Nice pick up

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

Wow, this is a good get. Beating P5's to get him. Haven't seen that in a while.

[SouthBendGreen]

This guy is a GREAT pickup.  24/7 has him as the 43rd best JUCO in America and 3 best JUCO OLB.  Looking at his composite he barely misses out on being a 4 star recruit.  

I'd like to think I have been watching recruiting pretty closely and checking it daily and don't remember a mention of him.  Others might but regardless I think he has been somewhat under the radar unlike a lot of targets.  This is fantastic news.  That was probably the thing I noticed most last season was how slow our LB corps was.  It's amazing how much fast, ball-hawking LB's can cover up deficiencies in front or behind them.  Makes you miss guys like Zach and Derek even more.  

Someone said it best in another thread that our offense should be better with experienced OL, Morris, Wilson, some talent at WR and the X Factor of being coached up in the new system.  Our defense needed a lot of help and it is clear SL is aware and addressing it.  

Also Arizona Western is stacked.  In addition to the kids we got they have 4 of the top 50 JUCO's including #1.

Edited January 31, 2016 by SouthBendGreen

[Harry]

 

 

[BillySee58]

Not gonna lie, kind of nervous here. His teammates sent in their LOIs to us a while ago.

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

10 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

Not gonna lie, kind of nervous here. His teammates sent in their LOIs to us a while ago.

Hasn't signed with anyone else though obviously. Who would he flip to, been trying to check other school's Twitters. 

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

yeah he is making me nervous!! 

[Mean Green 93-98]

Maybe someone else is offering him the opportunity to play RB?

[BillySee58]

6 minutes ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

Hasn't signed with anyone else though obviously. Who would he flip to, been trying to check other school's Twitters. 

Not sure. Haven't really checked that. Like I said with these kids who flip multiple times, you never know until the end. Coaches know they are indecisive and just have to win that last push.

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

I'm getting a little nervous... 

[akriesman]

39 minutes ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

I'm getting a little nervous... 

 

Yeah, this is one of our big catches.    We need him on board.

[baberuthbomber8]

I wonder if we could get Vito to ask about the kid at the presser that they are doing here in a bit?

[Mean Green 93-98]

I wonder what's going on here.  I'd hate to lose the jewel of the class.

[Ben Gooding]

0_0 

[baberuthbomber8]

im worried about this, but not super worried, they were confident enough over the weekend to tweet out about his zip code. 

[Mean Green 93-98]

4 minutes ago, baberuthbomber8 said:

im worried about this, but not super worried, they were confident enough over the weekend to tweet out about his zip code. 

He verbally committed, no doubt.  But that won't stop a P5 who lost a recruit today from coming after him hard.

32 minutes ago, baberuthbomber8 said:

I wonder if we could get Vito to ask about the kid at the presser that they are doing here in a bit?

If he hasn't signed, they can't comment.

[Harry]

Hopefully we will get some good news on this.

[baberuthbomber8]

vito just posted he isnt in the signing day release :/

[MeanGreenTexan]

3 minutes ago, baberuthbomber8 said:

vito just posted he isnt in the signing day release :/

Right.   He can't be, because he hasn't signed yet.

 

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

We may not hear about this today, one way or another. 

[SouthBendGreen]

Sounded like Vito just specifically asked about him and of course as expected Coach Littrell just said something to the tune of the guys on the sheet are the commits.  I'm not liking this.  

 

Side note - my first time to hear SL speak.  Is it me or does he sound defensive?  Not passing any judgment and I really like his start here, just curious if anyone else has that feel.

[Withers940]

1 minute ago, SouthBendGreen said:

Sounded like Vito just specifically asked about him and of course as expected Coach Littrell just said something to the tune of the guys on the sheet are the commits.  I'm not liking this.  

 

Side note - my first time to hear SL speak.  Is it me or does he sound defensive?  Not passing any judgment and I really like his start here, just curious if anyone else has that feel.

Maybe he just doesnt like Vito. That could be a strong possibility

[greenit]

Sounded tired to me.

[baberuthbomber8]

that is how he normally or how he was during his intro presser..