Inside the commitment: Fred Johnson

It came as no surprise to anyone who was paying attention when Norfolk (Va.) Maury class of 2024 three-star linebacker Fred Johnson went public with a commitment to South Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

From the moment the Gamecocks extended an offer to Johnson, and then he quickly made moves to set up an official visit, this one seemed to be trending in this direction.

Johnson was indeed one of Shane Beamer’s three “Welcome Homes” this past week, with his commitment corresponding with the first Tweet from Beamer. Nationally ranked punter Mason Love was the second commitment and the third is yet to be revealed by the prospect.

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Johnson, who took an official visit to South Carolina last weekend, considered taking one additional official visit to Virginia Tech but he didn’t even seem that interested in doing so and then never did — seemingly seeing everything he wanted in a program during his South Carolina OV.

One thing that Johnson told us over and over after that trip was how much love he received from the staff. The Gamecocks made sure he left town knowing what a priority he was for this class in Columbia.

Originally listed as a 195-pound receiver, Johnson went flying up South Carolina’s board at linebacker when he showed up at its first camp of the summer and measured in at 6-foot-3.5, 225-pounds and then put down a 4.54-second 40-yard-dash with a 4.2-second shuttle, and a 9-8 broad jump.

Johnson followed that up by looking agile and athletic in drills for South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White.

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Linebackers in today’s game have to be able to play in space and Johnson, who again has a receiver background, looks comfortable doing so.

Ready-made linebackers like the Gamecocks have in four-star commitment Wendell Gregory are increasingly harder to find but Johnson should be a nice addition to pair with Gregory in that he’s a high upside player who will have the chance to develop.

On film, he appears to be a rangy linebacker with the ability to run sideline to sideline and also carry with receivers down the middle of the field.

Anytime a player is transitioning from more of a “skill” position to one closer near the line of scrimmage, there will be some things they have to show such as can they deal with the physicality of the position on a down-to-down basis, though it’s a good sign that when Johnson tackles on film he does bring some pop and appears to enjoy contact.

Also, most of his film on linebacker is him rushing off the edge rather than sitting in a run gap, diagnosing a play, and then going to get the football, so that’s just something we haven’t seen yet.

I do like that there’s some position versatility here in that if Johnson didn’t work out at linebacker, there’s actually a lot to like to his game at receiver or even potentially tight end if he keeps growing as he probably will.

Since Johnson was so far under the radar when Carolina offered, he did not have a rating on On3 or 247Sports at the time. He has since debuted with an 88 on On3 and an 89 by 247Sports, making him a mid-to-high three-star prospect when combining the two.

But, considering that there’s still not a ton of data on him out there, that’s a rating that could certainly change going into his senior year.

One thing Johnson told us was that his phone had been blowing up since word got out about his South Carolina offer with schools trying to get him to campus. Here’s to thinking there’s a pretty good chance the Gamecocks are going to look pretty smart by making their move and getting him committed when they did.

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