Class Impact: JoJo Johnson To Notre Dame
Notre Dame picked up a commitment from Merrillville (Ind.) High School standout athlete JoJo Johnson. Just a three-star prospect, Johnson has film and talent that surpasses that ranking, and this is a very underrated, but important, pick up for Notre Dame.
Johnson had offers from Purdue, Iowa, Indiana, Cincinnati, Michigan State and Washington State. He had previously been committed to Cincinnati.
Let's take a look at how his commitment to Notre Dame impacts the 2021 class and the depth chart.
CLASS IMPACT
Johnson becomes the 24th player to commit to Notre Dame in the 2021 class, and the 11th defensive player. The Merrillville standout is the second in-state player to pledge to the Irish, joining Avon (Ind.) High School star offensive tackle Blake Fisher.
Notre Dame is recruiting Johnson to play in the secondary, and his commitment is important for the Irish. Notre Dame already has commitments from cornerback prospects Ryan Barnes, Philip Riley and Chance Tucker, but the staff only secured a commitment from one safety (Justin Walters).
One of the aspects of the current cornerback class is that all three have the potential to play multiple spots. All three can play cornerback, can play in the slot and all three have tools that could lead to them being just as good at safety as they could be at cornerback.
Landing Johnson gives the staff much greater flexibility to move one of those corners to safety should the need arise, or should they prove too good to keep off the field at the same time that the starting lineup at cornerback is set. That goes a long way towards solidifying the secondary, which was a safety short prior to Johnson's commitment.
Johnson brings his own versatility. He's an outstanding high school wideout and he was recruited by a number of FBS programs to play offense. His body type is different, but in many ways he brings the same kind of versatility that Joe Wilkins Jr. brought to the 2018 class. Wilkins was recruited to play in the secondary but ended up on offense.
I don't believe Johnson will end up on offense, but if the need arose and he had to move I'd be confident he could develop into a productive slot player.
NOTRE DAME FIT
I had a chance to see Johnson work out at Notre Dame’s summer camp back in 2019. He made my top performers list for his performance, and the first two traits that stood out to me were his foot quickness and competitiveness. Johnson has exceptionally quick feet, and in high school it shines most on offense, but that is because he has more experience on that side of the ball.
His agility and flexibility are ideally suited for the cornerback position, but he just doesn’t have much experience at the position. Watching Johnson on film as a senior, he looked like an athletic player that was still learning how to play that position.
Johnson has a knack for coverage and his ball skills on defense are outstanding, which shouldn’t be surprising for a player with his experience on offense. The issue for Johnson is he lacks the footwork and experience with the nuances and finer points of the position. In high school he was getting by on God-given athletic talent, and now he is going to a program that has a position coach that is an excellent teacher.
Once Johnson learns the technique needed for the position and gets more experience as a defensive player I believe he has the requisite skills to thrive at the position. Johnson’s size (5-11, 170) for a wide receiver is average, but as a cornerback his size and length is an asset. This is yet another reason why playing defense is the ideal position for Johnson moving forward.
At Notre Dame, Johnson will need time to grow into the position from a technique standpoint, but his size, athletic talents and ball skills project extremely well to the field cornerback and slot positions in the Irish defense.
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