Tag: Jamier Johnson

Texas defensive players seem to be thriving in their roles

The Texas defense looks to be improved this year.

The Texas defense has seemingly impressed throughout camp. And while it’s difficult to grade the defensive line based on the unknowns on the other side, the improvement of every position group is noticeable.

While we have diverted our focus to offensive injuries and the quarterback battle, multiple defenders have been making plays.

D’Shawn Jamison has probably had the best camp in the secondary based on practice reports. Ryan Watts, Jamier Johnson and Jerrin Thompson have also been singled out for great play.

At linebacker, DeMarvion Overshown seems to have found the right role in the defense. Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey has emerged as the third linebacker that Texas needs.

The most important development is the emergence of Byron Murphy who could help this defensive line finally stand its ground up front.

Simply fixing the run defense would go a long way, but it appears the secondary has been opportunistic in camp by forcing turnovers.

Practice interceptions will not necessarily translate against offenses they don’t face every day. Nevertheless, it’s encouraging that defenders are catching interception opportunities.

Philosophical and positional changes could vastly improve the defense this season.

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2021 Recruiting Class: Meet the Longhorns early enrollees

The Texas Longhorns football team has some early additions from the 2021 recruiting class. They have arrived on campus for the spring.

The Longhorns 2021 recruiting cycle will finish up early next week after the second signing day period. A portion of the 2021 class has already started arriving on campus in Austin. Nine of the 21 signees have started getting accustomed to the Forty Acres.

The current class is ranked No. 17 according to 247Sports composite rankings. While these players originally signed on to play for Tom Herman, they will have a new head coach and staff to get accustomed to. It will be an interesting dynamic with Steve Sarkisian running the show for the burnt orange, but many are hopeful for the future of Texas’ football program.

The Longhorns social media department recently put together a video of the early enrollees arriving to campus.

First look at early enrollees arriving to Texas campus

While the video featured most of the incoming class, here are the full nine early enrollees.

Longhorns cornerbacks coach Jay Valai is proving his worth

The Longhorns new cornerbacks coach Jay Valai is proving his worth on the recruiting trail. He has been huge in getting three players.

Before Jay Valai was hitting the recruiting trail for the Texas Longhorns and before he was training professional athletes, he was playing for Chris Ash in Wisconsin. Ash was his defensive backs coach in the final year of his collegiate career in 2010.

As a player, Valai was a four-year letter winner for the Wisconsin Badgers. During his career he accounted for 153 total tackles, four forced fumbles and two interceptions in the 48 games he played for Wisconsin. Valai was twice named second-team All-Big Ten for his efforts. Following his stint training athletes in his performance center, he would join the Georgia Bulldogs as their defensive quality control coach. That team made it to the College Football Playoffs Championship game.

He would leave to the NFL working for the Kansas City Chiefs as an assistant defensive backs coach and quality control. He would join Ash at Rutgers before coming to Texas as the cornerbacks coach. He has been instrumental for the Longhorns without them playing a game. It is hard to not love the energy and passion from Valai.

Valai has been credited with the recruitments of recent commits Jamier Johnson, J.D. Coffey and Ishmael Ibraheem. All three are four-star prospects for the 2021 class. For the 2022 class, he is hot on the trail for another California product Domani Jackson. The three commits that Valai has been getting to come to the Longhorns did so without a single visit.

Due to the NCAA’s dead period, coaches and players are prohibited from face to face visits. Given that all of their contact is done through video messaging, phone calls or texts messages Valai is proving his worth already. Even before coaching a single game, it appears as if Ash was right to bring in one of his former players to help mold this defense into his vision.

Texas lands out-of-state commitment from 2021 four-star CB

Texas has landed 2021 CB Jamier Johnson out of Pasadena, CA. A four-star prospect, Johnson is the third out-of-state recruit this year.

Texas has landed 2021 cornerback Jamier Johnson out of Pasadena, California. A four-star prospect, Johnson is the third out-of-state recruit the Longhorns have landed this year.

On the 247Sports composite, Johnson is the 17th ranked cornerback and a top 25 player in the state of California. Nationally, he ranked 236th, good enough to be the eighth highest recruit in Texas’ 2021 class.

The Longhorns beat out six other schools, including near hometown USC. Arizona State, Colorado, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Oregon were also in the running for Johnson.

Seen as an athletic cornerback, Johnson’s range is seen as his biggest strength. Measuring at 6-0 and 170 pounds, he will need some time to get bigger and become stronger. Once he does, Johnson will become a great player within the Longhorn secondary.

With the addition of Johnson, Texas’ class grows to 14 commitments. Still atop the Big 12 according to 247Sports, the Longhorns now have three defensive backs in the 2021 class.

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Locked on Longhorns Podcast: Most important game, QB rankings

The Locked on Longhorns podcast discusses the most important game for Texas in 2020. Plus is Sam Ehlinger under the most pressure in NCAA?

The podcast kicks off with a discussion regarding the most important game according to ESPN. For the Longhorns it comes down to their matchup with LSU in Baton Rouge. For the Sooners that game is against Texas and Oklahoma State’s it comes down to TCU. We discuss if we agree with the picks. Madden 21’s new updates to Face of Franchise leaves off Texas A&M. Aggie fans upset about it.

247Sports released their one player for each team in the Big 12 that needs to step up. For the Longhorns the pick was wide receiver Brennan Eagles. Eagles has come out and said he wasn’t going to play so that is an interesting pick. Why not a player like Caden Sterns or Joseph Ossai? Plus we talk about the pressure on Sam Ehlinger in 2020. SiriusXM host Dave Archer listed Sam Ehlinger as his top quarterback in conference.

Texas recently offered 2021 four-star cornerback Jamier Johnson. 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong recently submitted a crystal ball in the Longhorns favor. With his commitment date coming up on July 3rd, is Jay Valai getting another top tier blue chip player for his secondary? With Pat Forde’s realignment idea, would that bring back the Longhorns-Aggies rivalry? From 2010-19, did the Longhorns do enough to make the Top 25 list for the decade?

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Texas picks up crystal ball prediction for four-star CB

UT has landed a huge crystal ball prediction. 247Sports has predicted 2021 cornerback Jamier Johnson will commit to the Longhorns on June 3.

Texas has landed a huge crystal ball prediction from Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports, as he has predicted 2021 cornerback Jamier Johnson will commit to the Longhorns. He also gave an eight on his confidence rating, proving Johnson could be on his way to Austin.

Johnson is from Pasadena, California, and would be a rare out-of-state- recruit for Tom Herman. 11 of the 13 guys in the 2021 class are from the state of Texas. Three-star wide receiver Casey Cain from Louisiana and Australian punter Isaac Pearson would join Johnson as out-of-state- prospects.

Rated a four-star prospect on the 247Sports composite, Johnson is a top 300 player in the country. He ranks 17th overall at the cornerback position and 24th in the state of California.

Back on June 11, Johnson announced he would be committing on July 3. His top seven schools consist of Arizona State, Colorado, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, and USC.

If Johnson does pick the Longhorns, he would be the third commit at defensive back in the 2021 class. Ishmael Ibraheem and JD Coffey both pledged to Texas on June 15.

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Four-star cornerback from California puts Texas in top seven

2021 CB Jamier Johnson has cut his school list down to seven, with Texas making the cut. Johnson is ranked the 19th CB in the country.

2021 cornerback Jamier Johnson has cut his school list down to seven, with the Longhorns making the cut. At the moment, 247’s crystal ball has no predictions for where the defensive back will end up.

The Longhorns have been hot on the recruiting trail for cornerbacks in 2021, offering 17 prospects. Four of them have come from the state of California, trying to get some talent from the Los Angeles area.

Tom Hermans’ 2020 recruiting class was dominated by kids from the state of Texas and he may be looking for a couple more out of state kids in 2021. No better place to look than California, especially for a cornerback.

RATING

Stars Overall State Position
247 4 – 25 19
Rivals 4 249 22 15
ESPN 4 273 23 17
247 Composite 4 281 25 21

Vitals

Hometown Pasadena, California
Projected Position Cornerback
Height 6-1
Weight 175

Recruitment

  • Offered on February 5, 2020
  • no official visit

Offers (Top Seven)

  • Nebraska
  • Southern California
  • Ohio State
  • Arizona State
  • Colorado
  • Oregon

Film

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