Recruiting Strategy and Future Outlook

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Bank of America, proud to be the official bank of US soccer and FIFA World Cup twenty twenty six. Bank of America NA member FDSE Howb about a dozen? Texas just landed its twelfth commitment here in the month of June. We're talking about the Horn's newest defensive lyeman Jason Johnson coming up D our Hornnt. It drop You are Lcked on Longhorns, your daily podcast on the Texas Longhorns, partart of the Lcked on Podcasts network, your team every day Welcome in, you werere locked on to the Texas Longhorns. I'm your host BK Brad Kellner. The magical recruiting run continues for Steve Sarcesian and the Longhorns. Texas just landed yet another player in the class of twenty twenty seven three star defensive limeman Jason John is a longonghorn that offensive tackle out of Umbblea Tascita in the Houston area, just committed to Texas over LSU, Vanderbilt Cal and a number of others and this snowball of recruiting momentum just continues to get bigger Considering how hot it is in Texas right now. Perhaps a different metaphor would have made more sense, but you get the point. Jason Johnson becomes the twenty first commitment in the Longhorns twenty twenty seven class. And as I mentioned, right off the top, the twelfth commit here in the month of June. The eleventh for the twenty twenty seven cycle, of course, twenty twenty eight quarterback Neiman Lwrence pledged to Texas last week as well, But wow, this heater just continues. We mentioned over the weekend when we bke broke down the Montrey Jackson commitment that the Longhorns class now ranks in the top five in the country and Texas just continues to stack commitments. And more importantly, they are stacking them at positions that matter. deffensive line, offensive line, wide receiver, cornerback safety. I mean pretty much everywhere. And with Jason Johnson, Texas just added another big body to their interior defensive line group. six foot four, two hundred and eighty ish pounds, a top sixty player in the state of Texas, the number fifty two defensive lineman in the class according to the composite rankings. again, a three star prospect, but don't let the star rating trick you into thinking this was some sort of random take Texas has been in on Jason Johnson for a long time. This was not the longonghorn saying. We missed on a bunch of our top targets. so let's just take a body not at all The Longhorns offered him last June. They kept recruiting him ever since. They invited him to games during the twenty twenty five season. They got him to junior days. they got him to spring practice. They got him on campus for an official visit the weekend of june nineteenth through the twenty first. I mean this was basically a year and change long recruitment that tells you that the Longhorns really valued him. Even with higher ranked defensive linemen on the board, Kenny Baker and Will Mush Champ stayed on him. They kept their relationship alive, They kept putting in the work and now they get the clothose. Sometimes the recruiting rankings and the coaching staff evaluations do not line up perfectly care more about what the staff does, not just what the ranking says. Again, if Texas offered this guy a week ago and barely recruited him, that would be one thing. But this staff consistently recruited Jason Johnson for a year. That tells you they saw something or maybe a couple of things that they really, really liked. And I mentioned This was not a one horse race here. LSU really made a push. a number of SEC programs offered and Texas was able to get the job done Little scouting report on Jason Johnson. the first thing you notice, well this is a big strong physical defensive linemen in the SEC, you need those. Ultra strong at the point of attack can overwhelm one on one blocks, shows the ability to anchor against double teams or split them grown man stuff on Fridays Th things that you want to see from an interior defensive lineeman. and that's the kind of thing that gets coaches excited because if you can hold up against the run, if you could take up space and shed blocks and make plays, then you're going to have a path. The field Johnson's not just a big body. He is an above average functional athlete relative to his size. I'm not saying he moves like a two hundred and forty pound edgerusher, but for a guy his size, he does move pretty well and he carries that weight well as well. He is enough redirection ability to play with some range along the line of scrimmage against the run. Obviously football nowadays is just running straight at you. You've got zone schemes. you've got miseddirections. you've got zone reads, you've got screens. I mean, interior defensenseive Lyemen cannot be stationary objects. They've got to have the ability to move a little bit. They've got to be able to pursue. They have to be able to play laterally. Johnson has enough that ability and then you combine that again with the strength the frame and the physical style, you can see why Texas likes him. He's got to put on some weight, two hundred and eighty pounds for an interior deignment, not big enough got another year in high school. obbviously once he gets to the forty acres, that will be a big goal for the strength and conditioning staff is to add a few LBs to Johnson's frrank As of this moment, probably more developed as a run defefender than a pass rus or kind of a one trick pony as a pass rusher just a bull guy. So expanding his arsenal of pass moves also something that you would like to see him add to his game right now against a lot of high schoolers. He could just win with power. He could push the pocket. He could just overwhelm people. But again, in the SEC powerower alone is not enough every snap. You've got to develop some counters. You got to get better with hand usage. She's got to learn how to set up loockers a little more And you know, when the first move doesn't work, okay, what can I do now? That's obviously where Kenny Baker and this Texas coaching staff is going to come in. But I think this is an interesting fit here. He's got the tools, again, the size, the strength, functional movement ability, willingness to play physical, and you eventually get him into a college strength program And you let Kenny Baker work with him technically and then see what happens. Best case projection. Look, we're not talking about a day one superstar here. This is a developmental kind of piece Best case scenario down the road. He becomes a multiyear starter and maybe he's got some pro potential at the end of his college career. We're talking about a player who can develop into a real starter and an impactful piece up the middle. Developmental defensive lineman with a good ceiling. You love the blue chip guys, of course and Texas has recruited plenty of those too You want to get those stash guys as well and get them in the fold while they're cheap. You don't have to pay three stars nearly as much as you have to pay five stars or transfers who have done a lot at some other college program. The three stars are pretty good toav Andre Sweat was a three story. You talk about big body defensive linemen I think Jason Johnson has about a hundred pounds to get to what T Sweat was during the end of his Texas career, but don't sleep on the three stars is the point that I am trying to make. The Longhorns already have a couple of blue chip D linemen in this class, Cassi Curry, Tyler Alexander, Texas stillill bigig game hunting on the defensive line for the rest of the cycle. They've got three in the boat right now. I think theyd like to get a fourth, but they won't just throw around random offers if it doesn't fit exactly what they are looking for. And again, you like the blue chip guys, but you also want developmental bodies as well and Johnson gives Texas that kind of peace. And again, the Longhorns have numbers. Now they can be a little bit more selective. They can recruit elite defensive line targets without feeling desperate. That is a good place to be as the calendar is about to flip over to July. when you already have Cry Alexander and Johnson committed, you could push for other high end targets and say if we land another big fish, great Again, they're not going to reach here. They are going to be smart. obbviously good that your foundation is there. That is how you want to operate Got to give some love to Kenny Baker for this commitment. We've talked about him a lot over the last few weeks because June has been a ridiculous month for defensive line recruiting in particular. There was some pressure on Kenny Baker. Texas needed to land defensive line in in this cycle and well he's put together the makings of a really solid defensive line class. Jason Johnson himself talked a lot about his relationship with Kenny Baker and really vibing with his style of coaching That's a great sign. It sounds like the connection between those two may have been what tipped the scales in the Longhorns favor. I mentioned this earlier. Texas had to hold off LSU here Just because he's a three star doesn't mean nobody was interested. Anytime you could beat LSU for a player is a good win. againgain, Vanderbilt Cal also in the final group SMU and Houston as well in the mix, but Texas built the relationship over the last year. They finished the job. you love keeping the in state talent in state as well. your other two defensive tackles are from other states, but nice to close the borders of your own state and get this win in the Houston area. You don't want LSU or out of state schools coming in here to poach O players. So look, is this the flashiest commitment of the month? No, but it is a very important one. You win in the SEC by stacking players like this. Big bodies, physical guys win in the trenches. You want guys who can develop into big time pieces down the line.. I think that fits the exact plan Texas is looking for. and again They did a good job with this recruitment, got him on campus a few times, recruited Jason Johnson for about a year and they were able to close the deal here on a Monday in late June. Texas building a class with real balance. Once again, twelve commitments now in the month of june eleventh for the twenty twenty seven cycle and hey, the month isn't over quite yet. pererhaps we get some B news tomorrow, if it doesn't happen at the end of June. There's going to be some more very positive news on the recruiting trail for Texas in the not too distant future. Talked about some of the names on this morning's episode. D deffinitely check that one out if you missed it. We'll be talking more about some other top targets moving forward. and I just realized on the little graphic I have ABM being overly optimistic I put thirteenth commit in J It's twelfth in June But u We got more on the way. Don't worry about that. All right, that will do it for this one. Welcome to Austin, Jason Johnson. We are happy to have you. If you made it this far, number one, God bless you, number two, please remember to like, subscribe, share, leave a comment, rate five stars, all of those great things. We'd love to get y'all's thoughts on this pickup and anything else, Texas football related thank y'all enough for your continued support of locked on Longhorns. friendly, reminder about the Every Der Club as well. Another great way to support what we are building here. Click the link in the show notes for more information, but that will do it for this one. Thanks again for tuning in. Until next time. Orange up Mike's off. We'll see y' all soon. This is locked on long horns.