Hello: Dytarious Johnson Comment Count

Ace


Johnson previously visited M with his Prattville teammates [Photo via 247]

The satellite camp tour has produced its third commitment in three days. Prattville (AL) outside linebacker Dytarious Johnson quickly accepted Michigan's offer after putting on an impressive performance in front of the coaching staff yesterday. The Wolverines were the first Power 5 offer for Johnson, who at the moment of his commitment only had a recruiting profile on Rivals, which gives him a perfunctory two stars.

Johnson is Michigan's third commitment from Prattville since Jim Harbaugh took over, joining incoming freshman CB Keith Washington and 2016 RB Kingston Davis. Prior to Harbaugh's arrival, the Wolverines hadn't landed a prospect from any Alabama high school since Madison Bob Jones RB Max Martin in 2004. While Johnson's commitment came as a surprise, he's been on the coaches' radar since they recruited Washington and Davis, and his strong showing at the satellite camp sealed his offer, per Sam Webb:

“When I went and visited (with Davis in April) they told me they wanted to evaluate me more,” Johnson recalled.  “They wanted me to come to their (satellite) camp (in Prattville), and I guess they liked what they saw (because) they offered me today. So I wanted to commit.”

“(Harbaugh) told me, ‘congratulations and welcome to the team.’”

Johnson is the tenth commit in Michigan's class of 2016, and the third at linebacker, joining Dele' Harding and David Reese. (Reese could potentially end up at fullback.)

GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN 247 247 Comp
NR WLB 2* OLB NR OLB NR ILB NR ILB

While it's safe to expect Johnson will at least rise into the three-star range as he gets more exposure, the recruiting services are still cobbling together profiles for him at the moment; Rivals remains the lone outlet to give him a ranking. The four sites are in relative agreement on his size, listing him at either 6'0" or 6'1" and 205-215 pounds.

SCOUTING

As you can probably guess, there isn't a whole lot out there yet on Johnson. He earned a positive mention from Scout's John Garcia Jr. after Prattville came up short in last season's state championship game:

One of the few defensive standouts for the Lions, this underclassmen has versatility on his side. He lines up in the middle or on the edge at linebacker and makes plays against both the pass and the run. Though undersized at 6-foot, 185 pounds, he simply makes plays. A tackle for loss was among his four recorded stops.

That's all I could find on him—that article wasn't even linked to Johnson's Scout profile, since one didn't exist last night—other than Sam Webb's tweet about his camp performance on Friday:

We do have Johnson's junior highlights, which I'm going to post up here:

Magnus posted an evaluation today based on that film, and I had much the same reaction after seeing it myself:

For being a linebacker, he's a very smooth runner who moves like a strong safety. The first highlight in his film below is of him playing man coverage on a slot receiver, staying right on his hip on a wheel route, and tracking the ball down in the air; he tips it to himself and races about 75 yards to the endzone. He also likes to hit, and he takes good angles to the football. One thing I also like is that he seems to understand his role as an outside linebacker, and he does a very good job of maintaining leverage and fighting off blocks to keep outside contain.

The athleticism is there, but some basic fundamentals are lacking. His stance and footwork will probably need to be adjusted, but that will come with reps and coaching. He will also need to get stronger and add a little bit of weight.

The coaches seem to have noticed some of the same technical issues, and had already started working through them at Friday's camp, according to the Montgomery Advertiser:

Johnson said he learned "a lot" at the four-hour camp.

"I learned how to get in my stance and how to turn my hips," said Johnson, who plays linebacker. "The footwork."

Magnus added that Johnson's highlights could easily be confused for those of a four-star prospect, and I'm inclined to agree; he looks strong against both the run and pass, closes quickly on the football, and hits hard. This is a very lofty comparison, but he reminds me a little of Ohio State strongside linebacker Darron Lee, a three-star safety with a similar build out of high school. Lee was one of OSU's most valuable players last season because he could disrupt opponent running and passing games while lining up in the box or over the slot. Johnson has the potential to fill a similar role.

OFFERS

Johnson also holds offers from Alabama State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Jacksonville State, Memphis, South Alabama, and Troy. Add him to the ever-increasing group of test cases for Harbaugh's eye for talent and his ability to identify it early.

HIGH SCHOOL

Mostly covered above; Prattville has emerged as an unlikely Michigan pipeline, and given the program's recent success, that could get the Wolverines in on future talented prospects, as well.

STATS

Per MaxPreps, Johnson was second on Prattville with 82 total tackles (57 solo) as a junior. He also tallied four passes defensed and an interception he returned 71 yards for a touchdown (first clip in his highlights—it's well worth a watch).

FAKE 40 TIME

Johnson's Hudl page lists a 4.50, which gets five FAKEs out of five. (No obvious source, non-specific time, is a linebacker.) His page also lists a 4.30 shuttle time, 32.5" vertical, 315-pound bench press, and 405-pound squat.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Johnson seems like he could be anything from a Lee-style hybrid space player to a more traditional weakside linebacker, depending on his physical development and how the roster shakes out in front of him. The linebacker two-deep will be wide open after Joe Bolden, Desmond Morgan, and James Ross all graduate following this season, though I'd still expect Johnson to take a redshirt year. After a redshirt year—which will also see Ben Gedeon and Allen Gant exhaust their eligibility—he should be in position to compete for a spot on the depth chart.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Oh, heck, copy-and-paste again:

It's still far too early to take a stab at the final numbers for this class; it's clear the coaches are eyeing a class in the neighborhood of 20-25 prospects, which would require a decent but not unreasonable amount of attrition before Signing Day. Wide receiver, tight end, offensive line, defensive tackle, defensive end, outside linebacker, and—depending on where Enis and maybe Evans end up—defensive back remain areas of need.

Michigan is in good position with several highly ranked linebacker prospects; expect them to continue pursuing guys who can fit at that hybrid BUCK spot, such as five-star Caleb Kelly.

The Wolverines are now up to ten total commitments, and pending the inevitable attrition they only have room for four more right now. While there is understandable concern about oversigning, a couple long-rumored roster moves that have yet to become official are still well within the realm of possibility. Right now the numbers look tight and recruiting shows no signs of slowing down; my guess is the coaches know a few things we don't about the roster outlook.

Comments

uminks

June 7th, 2015 at 1:22 AM ^

in the SE! The big SEC schools don't really need to go hunt for talent, since they just scoop up all the 4* and 5* players.  JH just knows there are a lot good athletes in the south where HS football rules. I think its a brilliant strategy on JH part having all these HS kids participate in the camp, then you can have your coaches evaluate each player and pick up some great athletes the big school in the SEC may missed. Mr. Johnson is probably as good as some Midwest 4*. Welcome to Michigan Dytarious!

TESOE

June 7th, 2015 at 1:35 AM ^

the south is a deep and football crazy place.  I hope the fundamentals stick here and this turns into something.  I can't believe the coaches had time to review transcripts on such a whirlwind tour for untouted recruits.

Go Blue!

dbrhee

June 7th, 2015 at 7:31 AM ^

I believe those they have offered were kids that they already knew from coaches or are "conditional" offers that depend upon depth chart of recruits, transcripts, etc.... 

I believe they eyed Johnson for a while and Prattville HC probably gave JH info on his player...

 

The field just matched the expectation (or above expectation) and it was naturally for the coaching staff to offer..

Mr. Owl

June 7th, 2015 at 3:24 AM ^

That he proves to be a very good player that for whatever reason was overlooked... until Harbaugh!

The stats don't lie.  Having better ratings in HS don't hurt your odds of being a damn good player.  Yet for every 5* who makes it, there is another who doesn't.  Some 2* guys end up being much better.  Time will tell.  I trust Harbaugh.

Hello Dytarious Johnson!  I hope to see you introducing yourself to many RB's in a few years, and making them learn who you are after they pick themselves off the turf.  Slowly.

RainbowSprings

June 7th, 2015 at 5:57 AM ^

with picking up a 2-star at this stage. Then I realized that one of the purposes of The Swarm is to allow lesser-known athletes to garner wider attention. I trust that Dytarious is a diamond in the rough. GO BLUE!!!

CoverZero

June 7th, 2015 at 6:30 AM ^

Dytarious reminds me of Ian Gold but a little bigger.  Solid tackler, excellent speed and athleticism.  He could be a blitz machine on the outside and play in coverage swamping the TE and slot WRs.

Don

June 7th, 2015 at 7:22 AM ^

If the stats up at UM's database are correct, Gold was taller but Johnson is a bit thicker. They've got Gold listed as 6-2/195 as a freshman, and 6-1/213 as a senior. Rivals has Johnson at 6-0/215. But the speed and quickness are both very reminiscent of Ian.

STW P. Brabbs

June 7th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^

Let's take a breath. Ian Gold was very, very fast - fast enough to make the Pro Bowl as a 220-lb linebacker. No offense to Thomas, who looks like he could be a very good player, but I'm not seeing anything like comparable athleticism here.

CoverZero

June 7th, 2015 at 2:05 PM ^

You are thinking of Ian Gold when he was with the Broncos...

Im thinking of Ian Gold, the converted RB turned LB who was an undersized freshman LB with good speed.

That is why I said what I said...and I stand by it. 

Here are Ian Gold's NFL combine stats.  Solid...but not quite as fast as you say he was:

 

 

Ian Gold NFL Combine Results

Player Info

Height: 73 inches
Weight: 221 pounds
Arm Length: (N/A) inches
Hand Size: (N/A) inches
Position: OLB
College: Michigan
Draft Class: 2000

Measurables

40 Yard Dash: 4.56 seconds
20 Yard Dash: 2.66 seconds
10 Yard Dash: 1.59 seconds
Bench Press: 21 reps (225 lb)
Wonderlic: (N/A) (0-50)
Vertical Leap: 33.0 inches
Broad Jump: 115 inches
20 Yd Shuttle: 4.19 seconds
Three Cone: 6.97 seconds
60 Yd Shuttle: (N/A) seconds

 

BigOzzy86

June 7th, 2015 at 7:43 AM ^

Ball Coach can evaluate talent. Also good coaches sometimes take a kid to help pave the way for future kids out of the same school or area.

evenyoubrutus

June 7th, 2015 at 8:10 AM ^

TBH I normally have a hard time getting excited about these unheard of recruits when they commit- not that I don't think they will ever play but there's normally a kind of psychological barrier preventing it, but this is the first time I have ever truly felt excited about an unranked player committing to Michigan.

GRBluefan

June 7th, 2015 at 8:33 AM ^

Is that. Show up unheralded, perform your ass off, and earn a free ride to one of the best universities in the world. That's the American Dream right there.

theguy49503

June 7th, 2015 at 8:51 AM ^

I would also think that if his forty time is legit with a 4.5 and he is as fluid as he looks in space he might be being recruitted as a ss. at 6'1 220lbs with that type of speed and body control that could be the case. If you look at the depth chart the only true ss we have is D. Hill who's a Jr and Wilson who's a Sr

autodrip4-1968

June 7th, 2015 at 10:06 AM ^

No doubt these camp's are going to be a good practice. I hope the suits don't screw with these event's. The kids are the beneficiaries. Nothing but positive impact for these kid's. Case in point this Johnson kid. Good for him. Predicting most school's will start these opportunity camp's for the kid's. Good for the kid's.

Clarence Boddicker

June 7th, 2015 at 10:15 AM ^

Given this week's other commits, it looks like the coaches are heavily recruiting speed and also character--a devotion to education--and this kid has both. He seems like a great fit as a hybrid lb/ss--plays within the box and takes coverage responsibility for the te and rb.

BlueCube

June 7th, 2015 at 10:42 AM ^

for offers or commitments. Maybe they wanted to see them in person before offering to see how they react to coaching but I think they have a pretty good idea who they are offering at each stop or that guys were going to commit and they want to use these camps as extra publicity by making it look the the camps made a difference. I totally understand doing this because it will make these camps more popular.

Going through and getting nothing would give the SEC fuel to mock the camps. That wasn't going to happen. What I am saying that I would bet it's a very good idea to remain buckled up.

bronxblue

June 7th, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^

Great stuff, and welcome aboard. Does seem like the staff already liked what they saw in him, just waited to get him in person to confirm.

DarkWolverine

June 7th, 2015 at 5:59 PM ^

Think He Already Had a Visit to AA
No offers from Auburn or Bama? And in their backyard? Hopefully while Durkin was at Fla he scouted this kid in order to make this offer. Guess I'm all about the 4-5 stars. Hope I'm wrong. Also, I hate the comments by Ace and others about attrition. If a kid can't play, fine, a medical issue makes sense. But, Harbaugh and the other coaches should be able to recruit players to stay in the program. Hurts that Countess left.



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1 Star Legend

June 8th, 2015 at 3:36 AM ^

This kid looks like an excellent prospect. His fundamentals are "Clean." He has the grades and he is a very smooth moving athlete on the field. I really think that there is ALOT to like about this commitment. His junior season hudl video is very impressive.

NamedMyDogWoodson

June 8th, 2015 at 8:49 AM ^

My comment is not value add in any way shape or form, but dude's neck looks to be the size of my torso. I hope there is a correlation between neck thickness and tenacity on the field.

Magnus

June 8th, 2015 at 9:02 AM ^

Thanks for the link/blurb, Ace. 

As I said elsewhere and I think someone mentioned it above, I think this guy might have been lost in the shuffle of all the talent down south. If he were at Cass Tech with their profile and Wilcher's connections, Michigan would have been on him a long time ago, along with Michigan State and others. This kid is every bit as good as Tyriq Thompson, Deon Drake, and other Power Five linebacker recruits from within the state over the past few years.