In the midst of a typically quiet spring season, Greg Johnson threw the Arizona faithful in for a loop when he announced a verbal commitment to the Wildcats on Tuesday night.
It was particularly surprising because of the level of recruit that Johnson is considered to be — he's rated 4-stars by Scout.com, the No. 1 athlete in the West and the No. 50 recruit overall, and he picked the Wildcats over offers from 24 other schools, most notably USC and UCLA. Johnson hails from Augustus Hawkins HS in Los Angeles.
A 5-foot-10, 180 pound athlete, Johnson has the skillset to play multiple positions, and Arizona's coaching staff has approached Johnson's recruitment as if he's a good enough recruit to play whatever position — or positions — he wants.
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Johnson told the Star on Wednesday that he would like to play both offense and defense for the Wildcats.
"I think they (Arizona's coaches) want me to play both sides of the ball, corner and then running back," Johnson said in a phone interview. "But yeah, I want to play both sides."
As a junior at Augustus Hawkins, on offense Johnson rushed for 1,108 yards and 11 touchdowns with six more receiving touchdowns. On defense, he had 42 tackles, three tackles for loss, four interceptions and six pass deflections.
Here's a Hudl highlight video from his junior season. Check out Tucson.com later tonight — and in Thursday's print edition — for more on Johnson's decision.
