GROSSE POINTE, Mich. – It’s an hour before the NFL Draft, maybe even less than that, and Ohio State knows exactly what it’s doing.
Buckeye’s coaches know what’s going to happen shortly, with the scarlet and gray about to bleed to death on televisions tuned to ESPN or the NFL Network. So they know that they are going to have to make the most of the moment that they can. That is what is leading to this moment as they have arranged a Zoom call between William Johnson, his parents and a large part of the coaching staff including Ryan Day and Kerry Coombs.
Johnson is a great recruit in the 2022 class, and although the Buckeyes will have a smaller defensive distance than in the 2021 cycle, he remains one of the most important targets in the class. By July, he will become a five-star prospect, the No. 15 player in the United States, the No. 3 cornerback nationwide and the No. 1 junior promotion in Michigan.
So this April night is planned well in advance. Day steps forward to officially extend an offer to Johnson before he soon gets to take advantage of media opportunities that will essentially double as recruiting pitches. Then the rest of the Buckeye staff take over and detail what Johnson remembers as a “really impressive” show of learning about academics, how to build a media presence, and anything else you can think of that can be learned about a school without actually being there. .
Then they leave the call, and it happens. Joe Burrow, Chase Young, Jeff Okudah, and Damon Arnette are selected first, second, third, and nineteenth overall in the first round. Three former Ohio State players, and one who started his career there, are drafted into the Top 20 choices right after Johnson receives his offer from Ohio State. What a wild coincidence, right?
“It was like they had planned to make it even more important,” Johnson says with a sarcastic smile, knowing that that’s almost certainly what happened. “It was very good. It was a good setup, for sure.
Michigan five-star cornerback William Johnson is already one of Ohio’s highest priority defensive defensive targets in the 2022 class.
That Zoom session came on April 23, and only one other recruit (catcher Luther Burden) received an offer from the Ohio State so close to the draft (although his came on April 20).
And there is a reason for that. Johnson is good enough to hit that same stage one day, and the Buckeyes believe they can take him there.
“(Coombs) says ‘I only recruit the first players.’ That’s his line for me, “Johnson said. Eleven warriors. “He said he only offered him five men, and he says he only offers first-round players. Basically he says he thinks I can be there and he thinks I can be a first-round player.
“They put corners in the league every year. He’s just back from the NFL, so he knows how that goes too. So he has connections in the league that would help me get there, so that helps a lot. … I think he only knows that he is capable of training and developing children. There is a certain corner style that he recruits that he believes can be a first round, so he has the confidence to say that. ”
Okudah was selected by the Detroit Lions, placing him less than a 25-minute drive from Johnson’s Grosse Pointe South High School, located east of Detroit. Like Johnson, Okudah was a five-star recruit, ranked as No. 1 cornerback and No. 8 overall player in the 2017 class.
Excluding Ted Ginn Jr., who was classified as a cornerback in the class of 2004 but played as a wide receiver at Ohio State, Okudah (0.9955 rating) is the highest-ranking cornerback commitment Ohio State has landed in the modern era. recruiting.
Ratings will fluctuate up and down in the next two years, of course, but as of now, Johnson (0.9927) would be the second cornerback recruit in Ohio state in the modern recruitment era, a distinction at the moment. by Shaun Wade. (0.9904), also from class 2017.
“(Coombs and I) talked on draft night,” Johnson said. “He was talking about how he expected the Lions to recruit Okudah, and he said he thinks it might one day be him. And he thinks I can be recruited as high as he is. That was a small comparison between us. ”
On our trip to Grosse Pointe South on Thursday to have our first in-person look at Johnson, it was clear to see the Detroit connection and the potential to follow in Okudah’s footsteps as a first round aren’t the only parallels between the two corners. .
At Grosse Pointe South (Mich.) Today to meet Ohio State CB’s five-star goal William Johnson (@ Willj1228)
The 6-foot-3-inch, 190-pound Johnson ranks 15th overall and is the No. 3 CB in the 2022 class. Pic.twitter.com/nHjbwFqt1W
– Zack Carpenter (@Zack_Carp) July 23, 2020
Johnson is the size and length Coombs loves in a corner. Add Johnson’s competitiveness, how he gets out of his breaks, his speed of 4.5 on 40 and ball skills, and all of that makes him one of the top targets for the Buckeyes in the 2022 corner class.
His athleticism on the basketball court as a leading shooting guard and his comfort with press coverage, which Grosse Pointe South runs 90 percent of the time, only adds to his repertoire.
But one of the things that makes Coombs the recruiter he is is his ability to recognize that kind of potential in a player, but also not to scare him off. In fact, he believes Johnson’s reverse gear and foot speed could improve.
“I think he is honest,” William’s father Deon Johnson said of Coombs. “What you see is what you are going to get.
“He’s a direct shooter, and he wants you to do the same to him. … I’m going to be honest with you, I want you to be honest with me. ”
In fact, one of the first questions Coombs asked young Johnson was why his feet look faster on the basketball court than on the soccer field, and Coombs wanted to show Johnson how he could move his feet more. fast at the corner spot.
Deon Johnson, right, is a former Michigan defender who has been training his son, William Johnson, on the job since he was in elementary school.
Since the first conversation took place, William and Coombs have continued to build a relationship.
“We try to talk at least once a week just to control ourselves and see what happens,” Johnson said. “It seems real down to earth. When we call, we don’t talk much about soccer. We only talk about what is happening on our worlds. He talks about how I am, how he is, what is happening that day. What has been happening last week? We just check each other out. Nothing crazy
“I’ve seen him before in the camps, but I really didn’t have a chance to talk to him because he was younger then. But it was only in the last two months that I started talking to him. When I received the offer, I started talking to him every week since. Increasingly comfortable with each other every time we talk. Simply by strengthening myself with that relationship. ”
If you’re looking for more connections between William and Coombs, you need look no further than William’s father. Deon was a Michigan defender in 1991-1994, making William a Wolverines legacy, and William grew up in the state where his father played college ball.
Deon first met with Coombs around 2013 when Coombs attended a session at the Body Sound Sound Mind Sports Academy in Detroit, where Deon is the camp director. So Deon is very familiar with the reputation Coombs has for recruiting Michigan, which includes snatching Damon Webb, a 2014 top 40 prospect from the Wolverines years ago.
“It’s been coming for a while,” said Deon. “He’s been pulling kids out of town since before 2013. He had those two years that he went to see the Titans, but I know a lot of kids that Kerry Coombs recruited. Damon Webb, Mike Weber, a couple of Cass Tech linemen. Kerry Coombs has always been successful in taking out some of the best kids in town. And then, the state of Ohio is always putting defensive backs in the league. That’s always good, when you know you have a coach so get the boys ready. ”
And Coombs already believes that William Johnson might be next.
