Michigan's search for a 2020 QB commit in the aftermath of Harrison Bailey's decision to go to Tennessee did not take long. Michigan offered AZ QB JD Johnson on December 6th; he visited a week later; a week after that he's committed. Not bad for a guy who was a backup QB until Spencer Rattler did something undisclosed but probably pretty dumb two games from the end of the regular season.

FWIW, Rattler missed a game earlier in the season with an injury so Johnson got six games in, not five.

GURU RANKINGS

Rivals	ESPN	24/7	Composite
3*, 5.5 rating NR	NR	3*, #558 overall #25 PRO, #18 AZ	NR

While a couple of services have provisional rankings for Johnson those are likely to be tossed-off default taeks and his real ranking is yet to be determined.

[After THE JUMP: choose your own scout-venture]

SCOUTING

In a word: nope. Here's Johnson repeating what South Carolina said when they offered:

“They said they loved my quick release, power, and accuracy,” Johnson said.

This is the only thing anyone's put in an article about his ability.

Let's just slide that highlight video in a little early then, since if you want scouting you're gonna have to do it yourself:

That's a lot of good stuff in five games. One man's off the cuff take: weird arm slot, very comfortable shifting in the pocket to buy himself time, comfortable on the move, very capable of setting his feet even as he rolls opposite his throwing arm, throws Uncle Rico balls with more precision than he probably should, zippy when he has to be in underneath coverage, too many ohshit throws into coverage that work out, 0.8 McCaffrey on the ground.

One thing's for sure. Dude is in for a uniform upgrade of incredible magnitude.

Pinnacle is in the blue camo. Gah.

OFFERS

Arizona, South Carolina, Oregon State, UNLV, and Colorado State so far. Arizona actually offered back in May before he'd taken a snap.

HIGH SCHOOL

Phoenix Pinnacle hasn't sent anyone to Michigan but did produce Stanford lineman Ben Muth, who's a good twitter follow, and Brian "I Like The Way" Lewerke. Also Rattler, obviously. Their starting QB since 2012 has gone Lewerke-Rattler-Johnson, all P5 recruits. Not bad.

STATS

Johnson got some work in: 123 of 196, 63% completion rate, 10.2 YPA, 17 TDs, and 7 INTs. That interception rate is high, but so are the completion and YPA numbers. 47 yards on the ground.

FAKE 40 TIME

247 lists a 4.79, which is pretty good for a QB and maybe in the 1-2 fakes category.

VIDEO

See above.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

I'm not even going to venture one given how flimsy this evidence is. Johnson is likely to end up a four star if he hits up camps, but his recent emergence and lack of game time means that anything from a meh three star to a top 100 ranking is in play.

When Johnson hits campus he'll redshirt, as all Harbaugh QBs do, and then he'll have to wait for whoever the starting QB is to clear out before he gets a shot at the job. He'll be rooting for Dylan McCaffrey, which would probably result in a open QB competition in 2021.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Is QB. Harbaugh takes one a year and then flirts with a second. Unless Shea Patterson comes back and someone transfers as a result—which would be a weird thing to do—Michigan will have a full enough QB room that a second is very unlikely.