2008 Recruiting: CB Patrick Johnson

Patrick Johnson
Ely High School
Pompano Beach, Florida
6'1" 175#
4.47 second 40

His name is Patrick Johnson.  He will wear #7.  I think you will get to know him well, and rather soon.  He is the best cornerback prospect that LSU has ever recruited.  He is also the #1 recruit in this class.  Not coincidentally, he is the final subject of this series (though there may be one or two more if Tim Molton and/or DeAngelo Benton qualify and report to the team).

Patrick Johnson is a physical monster of a cornerback with great bloodlines.  He is cousin to NFLers Sinorice and Santana Moss as well as Bryant McFadden.  The athletic genes are there.

Johnson is known as a physical cornerback, one who makes it difficult for a receiver to get into his route.  Plus, he has good recovery speed if a receiver gets by him  What's more, he's also very dangerous with the ball in his hands, so much so that it is speculated he may see time on offense, like Champ Bailey when he was at Georgia.

For all of Johnson's physical abilities, which are legion, he is also a born leader.  By all accounts, athletes gravitate towards him.  By the way, this quality is said to be shared by current 2009 LSU commitment Russell Shepard.

Over at Tiger Forums, the USC fan known as uscvball relayed this message about Patrick Johnson from someone who watched him at USC's camp:

"Patrick Johnson is a DEFINING player. He has everything you want in a football player, and especially a Corner.. Physically, he is stunning in his athleticism. I mean he made some plays at the Rising Seniors camp that were mind blowing. He is FIERCE, and I mean FIERCE when it comes to competition. He is as natural a leader as I have been around. At the camp, during the Trojan ball segment, he TOOK OVER. He took over his team, and he took over the games. His teammates had never met him,most of them anyway, but they just naturally gravitated to him. There was NEVER a question of who was the leader of that side."

Link here.  Keep in mind, those are egotistical high school athletes who are trying to catch USC's attention, but who are finding themselves naturally and unquestioningly following someone else.

When the user told us that, it still looked like Patrick Johnson would not be coming to LSU.  Needless to say, I am excited to see him here.

Here is a particularly grainy and non-useful YouTube of PJ in action:

Given that cornerback is one of the two big question-marks on this 2008 LSU football team, it is entirely possible (maybe even likely) that Patrick Johnson will be starting by midseason, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that he is the starter against Appalachian State.

He could be this year's Eric Berry, who set the SEC on fire as a true freshman defensive back for Tennessee last year.  In fact, LSU could have two freshmen starting at corner this year, though that's a story for another day.

Of course, Patrick Johnson is a headliner.  THE headliner.