Scouting Report: Greg Johnson, ATH Recruit

"Nothing worth having comes easy." ~Unknown

Rankings

Offers: Arizona, Arizona State, Boston College, California, Colorado, Colorado State, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Oregon State, San Jose State, South Carolina, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, and Washington State.

Scheme fit: Any program in the country would love to have Johnson. As a cornerback, he fits into a press-man scheme but would also be successful playing in zone. As an offensive player, he could play any number of roles, from running back to receiver to H-Back. As a result, he could go anywhere from Oregon to Ohio State to Michigan.

Strengths: An enforcer at the cornerback position... Good acceleration, and converts speed to power easily... Natural footwork... Plays with aggression... Very physical.... As a running back, shifts to the open running lane without losing burst... Changes direction without slowing down... Plays well in traffic, forcing arm-tackle attempts and running through them... Gets north-south in a hurry.... As a receiver, catches the ball very well with soft hands... Good leaping ability to high-point the ball. Used all over the field by Augustus Hawkins HS.

Weaknesses: N/A

Speed factor: 8.5 ^(?)

Johnson looks a little bit faster than he is because he doesn't get slowed down while juking and weaving his way through a crowd. If you want to slow him down, you'll need to get some helmets on him, and even then he's strong enough to take a few blows and stay on his feet. His lateral quickness, also, is amazing.

Many of Johnson's highlights are on the offensive side, and it would be smart to keep him there in college. Johnson has the potential to be an X-factor, flexing all over the field as needed. At the same time, he would be an amazing cornerback prospect also. He is physical enough to establish a gritty philosophy on that side, and his instincts and fluid athleticism are perfect for the secondary. Johnson is a two-way football player like Jim Harbaugh loves, and he will be an elite, phenomenal prospect wherever he winds up. Johnson's an underrated prospect if you're relying on services like Rivals or ESPN.

Earlier this month Johnson said that Michigan is pursuing him hard, and it's easy to see why. The theme around the 2016 class was establishing a pipeline to New Jersey, but it looks in the early going as though Jim Harbaugh is trying to build a California pipeline as well for the 2017 season. There is a lot of talent up for grabs in California this year, from the #1 and #2 running backs in the country, the #1, #5, and #8 cornerbacks, the #4 wide receiver, the #3 strongside defensive end, and two of the top ten tight ends.

As a result of this, expect Michigan to bump heads with USC, UCLA, and, yes, Stanford a few more times in this cycle. Unsurprisingly, the Trojans are the incumbent favorites to land Johnson's services at the moment, but expect Jim Harbaugh to pull out all the stops and try to figure out a way to forge a West Coast-Michigan connection over the next year. In fact, he's already started - hiring SJSU assistant head coach Jimmie Daugherty, a move that is bound to assist Harbaugh's recruiting efforts in California.