Diamond in the Rough
August 23, 2007 08:35 AM | General
August 23, 2007
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| Will Johnson |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Rich Rodriguez thought his coaches might have found a diamond in the rough when Will Johnson signed with West Virginia University last February. Three weeks worth of practice this fall is confirming Rodriguez’s suspicions.
“We’ve got a couple of new receivers that I think can give us some competition and some depth,” the coach said last week. “Will Johnson and Alric Arnett … these guys are going to have a chance to compete.”
Right now Johnson is working with the second group of wide receivers behind junior Tito Gonzales. Rodriguez has repeatedly said that depth charts are meaningless because they are always in flux. That especially applies to the wide receivers.
“I’m not just giving you coach-speak and I’m not saying this to motivate our wide outs – and it’s not that we don’t have guys that can’t do it – but if we go to a four receiver set or even a three wide receiver set who our five or six guys that are going to play? That may go down until next Thursday. That’s how wide open that race is,” Rodriguez said.
True freshman Will Johnson is certainly one of the contenders. The Dayton, Ohio, resident played just about every where for Coach Ron Ullery at Centerville High (Ohio) School. He earned all-district and all-conference honors in football, and was a regional qualifier in the 100-meter dash in track as well as a basketball letterman. Rodriguez first found out about Johnson when he came to West Virginia’s football camp last summer.
“Coach (Bruce) Tall thought he was one of the better athletes at his position at camp,” Rodriguez said last February during signing day. “He’s probably a guy that was a little under the radar. I think Will Johnson is going to be one of those guys in a year or two that everyone talks about saying, ‘Where did he come from?’”
What Rodriguez thought might take a year or two actually turned out to be three weeks. Johnson’s exceptional size and athletic ability is already standing out. His pathway up the depth chart will ultimately be determined by how quickly he learns the position.
“It’s a big change from high school but I’m out there competing,” Johnson said.
West Virginia wide receivers coach Tony Dews understands the maturation process a young receiver like Johnson is going through and he knows that it’s going to take some time.
“They are mentally and physically going through something that they’ve never been through – practicing at the pace that we’re practicing at and the demands of college football,” Dews cautioned.
“As long as they’re playing hard – moving around and flying around – they’re going to get fussed at a little bit but I’d be a lot happier if they did it full speed than if they did it half speed,” Dews said.
So far that’s not been a problem for Johnson, who played running back and linebacker last year in high school. During his recruitment Johnson actually approached Rodriguez about the idea of playing wide receiver.
“I told Coach Rod that this is where I want to play and he gave me the chance and I think it’s paying off,” Johnson said.
Johnson says he’s familiar with many of the things West Virginia does with its no-huddle, spread offense including the hand signaling system it uses, which he says his high school team also employed. Johnson is also accustomed to the blocking required of wide receivers having done a lot of that playing in Centerville’s Wing T offense.
“(Blocking) is what I did mostly in our offense,” Johnson said. “That’s nothing new to me.”
What is new to Johnson is the size and speed of the defensive backs and linebackers he’s matched up against. He admits he’s still getting used to that.
“Guys are a lot faster, bigger and stronger,” he said. “I’m trying to adjust to it and get used to it.”
Johnson says some of West Virginia’s older receivers like Darius Reynaud, Dorrell Jalloh and Gonzales have been helpful.
“They do everything that they’re supposed to do. They run great routes and I try to do what I can do – I’m not as fast as them – but I try to follow their footsteps,” Johnson said.
Johnson says he is looking forward to catching his first pass from quarterback Patrick White so his cell phone will quit ringing.
“I get a lot of phone calls all the time from my friends asking me, ‘Did Pat White throw you the ball?’ I’m like not yet,” Johnson said.
That could change very quickly.
