Football Recruiting
Report
Friday, July 11, 2014
By Sammy Batten |
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ECU eyes pass blocking role for S.C. star
Victor Johnson's soft commitment leaves
door open for courting by other schools
Recruiting Class of 2015 Thumbnail Sketches...
By
Sammy Batten
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
As a taller kid growing up in North
Augusta, SC, Victor Johnson naturally gravitated toward basketball. But
Johnson's involvement in that sport eventually led him to the football
field where the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder has developed into major-college
caliber player in a short time.
The third-year varsity veteran at North
Augusta High School played his first season on the offensive line as a
junior and showed such potential that schools like Appalachian State, Furman
and James Madison came through with early scholarship offers. But it was the
East Carolina Pirates that extended the first scholarship offer in February,
and eventually gained his verbal commitment June 21 while Johnson was on
campus for an unofficial visit.
"It was definitely the coaching staff,''
Johnson said when asked about his reasons for choosing ECU. "I've developed
a good relationship being around them and I can tell they're good people.''
Johnson was especially impressed with his
chief recruiters, offensive line coach Brandon Jones and recruiting
coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick. "They are really down to Earth guys who made
me feel at home,'' Johnson added.
In Johnson, the Pirates are getting one
of the top prospects in the Class of 2015 from South Carolina. 247Sports.com
rates him the No. 39 prospect in the Palmetto State, while Athlete's Vault
has him at No. 44. Jim Baxter of SCVarsity.com and recruiting columnist for
The State newspaper in Columbia, SC, recently had Johnson rated the
fifth-best blocking prospect in the state.
Those rankings followed a junior season
in which Johnson played a major role for a state playoff North Augusta squad
that scored 40 points in 10 of 14 games. The performance earned Johnson
second-team All-South Carolina Area honors from the Augusta Chronicle and
All-Region status.
That's not too shabby for a guy who only
started playing competitive football in middle school.
Prior to that time, Johnson was focused
on basketball and was a serious competitor in the Amateur Athletic Union
ranks. It was late one summer while playing with his AAU squad that several
teammates mentioned playing middle school football.
"They were having to leave AAU to start
conditioning for football at the middle school,'' Johnson said. "I wanted to
join in, so I went along with them. I really enjoyed it and that's how I got
started.
"I kind of developed slowly because they
moved me around to so many positions in middle school. First I was a
receiver and a safety, then they moved me to tight end. By my eighth-grade
year I was more of a tight end and defensive end.''
The coaches at North Augusta High clearly
recognized Johnson's potential because they moved the then-defensive end up
to the varsity for the playoffs at the end of his freshman season. A year
later Johnson was part of a defensive end rotation for a team that went 9-4
and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs.
But it wasn't until Johnson's junior
season that the North Augusta staff suggested a move to the offensive line.
"The coaches told me during the winter,
'Hey, maybe we'll move you to the offensive line,''' Johnson said. "I
actually thought it was a joke. As we got closer to spring practice, they
said, 'We're going to move you to the offensive line.' I said, 'OK.' I
really enjoy football, so it was no problem to me. I got used to it and was
really good at it, so they kept me there.''
Johnson started at right offensive tackle
last season, but will move to left tackle as a senior under the direction of
a new head coach in Brian Thomas.
Thomas returned to his home state in
March after an extremely successful four-year stint at Northern Guilford
High School in Greensboro, NC. Northern won three consecutive state 3-AA
championships with Thomas serving as defensive coordinator, then went 12-3
and reached the state finals a fourth straight year in Thomas’s only season
as head coach.
During Thomas’s tenure at Northern, the
Nighthawks produced a number of major college players like California wide
receiver Maurice Harris, North Carolina running back T.J. Logan and East
Carolina cornerback Rocco Scarfone.
Thomas instantly recognized Johnson as a
player with similar elite talent.
“I walked into the weightlifting class
for first period and Victor was one of the first kids I saw,’’ Thomas said.
“It was eye opening and pretty exciting to know he’d be one of my returning
players, and not just because of football. Victor is a great kid. He’s very
respectful and hard working. I told all the college coaches that he’s the
type of kid when he’s told to do something, you don’t have to watch over
him. He won’t quit until he’s done.’’
Because of his basketball background,
Johnson is more athletic than the normal high school offensive lineman,
according to Thomas.
“He runs so well,’’ Thomas said. “I timed
him down on the track recently and he ran something like 50 (seconds) in the
400 (meters). He’s got good feet, long arms and he’s aggressive.’’
The Pirates have recruited Johnson to
play tackle where his pass blocking skills seem to fit ECU’s system well.
“They are pretty similar to us,’’ Johnson
said. They go fast, no-huddle and I really like that. I definitely think
because of my athletic ability that I’ll fit well in their system.’’
Whether Johnson winds up in the ECU
system, however, is still up in the air. Although he likes the Pirates and
has made a verbal commitment, the latter isn’t binding.
Johnson said he still plans to check out
some other potential suitors during the time between now and national
signing day in February.
“I’m going to look around at some other
schools,’’ Johnson said. “There aren’t any in particular I have in mind, and
I haven’t talked to any other schools. But I do plan to look around some
more."
E-mail Sammy Batten
PAGE UPDATED
07/11/14 04:08 PM.
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