Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Why Hasn't UGA Offerred AJ Johnson?

I spent a few hours of my night yesterday watching the Gainesville High School spring scrimmage game up at beautiful City Park in downtown Gainesville. Not so surprisingly the place was peppered with college coaches, and I even got the chance to talk to Al Groh for several minutes (Ga Tech's new defensive coordinator). Of the 6 or so college coaches present, they were pretty much all there to get a glimpse of AJ Johnson, the excellent middle linebacker from GHS. Johnson has too many offers to mention, but still no offer from the Dawgs. I am really confused, so I was hoping that some of you may be able to shed some light on this situation.

I coached AJ from 7th-10th grade, and knew from day one that the kid was something special. Not only is he a physical beast, but more importantly he is a great kid that takes care of academics. If anyone out there has any say in anything UGA recruiting, please enlighten me as to why we are missing the boat!

On another note, the upcoming freshman QB from Gainesville absolutely stole the show at the scrimmage last night! Even the college coaches were talking primarily about this kid after watching him put on a clinic for 4 quarters! Look out for Deshaun Watson in the near future because I predict a top 10 national ranking for this kid if things keep progressing and basketball doesn't steal him away!

11 comments:

  1. I have heard about that freshman QB. If he can get some good fundamental coaching he should be a great prospect later.

    In regards to AJ, you would think he would fit into the new 3-4 scheme perfectly. The only negative to him is his lack of speed, and downhill hitting ability IMHO. However, he makes up for that by playing smart and being around the ball at every play. His size is also intimidating. I definitely think we need to sign this kid though to keep from having to play against him! You are doing something right if you have 150 tacklys plus last season.

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  2. I have often wondered where he will best fit in at the college level. I say a defensive end in a 4-3, and maybe the same or outside backer in the 3-4. He is already sitting at around 6'4, so I am sure he could play in the 260-275 range in 3-4 years. He has a BIG frame.

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  3. The only thing i have heard is that they just like other players better at his position. He would play the middle and they already have Herrera, and are also going after the Tucker kids who would both play the middle LB spots. But you also have to remember that spring evaluation is coming up so you never know if another offer may go out to some more middle LB's.

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  4. I don't think he is best suited for MLB at the college level. He could be a dominate force on the outside, and has said he has nothing against moving around.

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  5. Well, I'm not exactly sure then if he can play outside why they haven't offered. It's probably the same thing though. I know they are going after Tuitt, Ray Drew, and Xzavier Dickson. Like I said, there will probably be more offers that go out during spring evaluation so you never know if that offer will come or not. If he doesn't get an offer after summer camps though, then he probably won't be offered.

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  6. Freshman QB looked great, but unless they find a QB coach at Gainesville, your looking at another blake simms...Great athlete..not so great qb. lack of discipline, sloppy feetwork

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  7. Please Coach Richt and staff (from a UGA alumni & long time season ticket holder)- OFFER AJ A SCHOLARSHIP!! Not only will you be getting a heck of a football player, but a great young man. He is very respectful and smart.

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  8. He's stiff in the hips. Rightly or wrongly, I also bet the coaches of the GHS overhype machine that has overhyped prospect after prospect.

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  9. Even if UGA offers Johnson, which I highly doubt, he will not commit to us. He has made some comments that show is his pretty sore about not ever being invited to camp or junior day at Georgia.

    I trust out our coaching staff totally, they must not see him fitting in well within our scheme.

    Interesting note is that Florida has also not offered him yet.

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  10. DAMON AND AJ'S UNCLE PLAYED TOGETHER AT GHS AND WERE BEST OF FRIENDS AJ'S UNCLE GOT TURNED DOWN OVER ALOT OF INFERIOR PLAYERS AND WENT TO APP STATE WHERE HE WAS AN EXCELLENT PLAYER WOULD THINK THAT DAMON WOULD SAY SOMETHING TO COACHES ABOUT THE KIDS FROM GHS THIS YEAR KENDALL LEWIS FROM MISS WENT IN THE DRAFT TAILER JONES GETTING GREAT REVIEWS AT NORTRE DAME AND SIMS WILL BE A PLAYER THAT WII CONTRIBUTE A ALA HEARD THE LAST DEF COACHES THOUGHT HE WAS TO SLOW AND THEY WERE GREAT JUDGES OF TALENT

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  11. Richt did a radio show yesterday and he talked about wanting to see guys in camps. They see guys on tape all the time and want to get them in camp in the case for guys like AJ. Richt can't specifically name names but its this type of guy that he's talking about.

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