On July 21, Texas picked up its first 2019 pledge in the form of Port Neches Groves (Texas) quarterback Roschon Johnson.
A 4-star dual-threat gunslinger, Johnson has quietly amassed 5,236 yards and 61 touchdowns through the air and another 3,277 yards and 59 scores with his legs throughout the past two seasons. Although he may be a bit raw in regards to his pure passing prowess, Johnson is a tremendous athlete with seemingly limitless upside.
That upside is exactly why Johnson has drawn a comparison for former IMG Academy (Fla.) standout and current Texas A&M quarterback, Kellen Mond, per ESPN’s Tom Luginbill.
“Johnson and Mond are similar due to their upside. As with Mond coming out of high school, Johnson has a high ceilings but isn’t quite polished,” Luginbill said. “Both prospects are good athletes, have a live arm and are dangerous true dual-threat types who will only progress as passers.
Much more notable than Johnson’s upside, though, is his ideal fit in Texas coach Tom Herman’s system.
Throughout his career, especially as a national championship-winning offensive coordinator at Ohio State and during his first head-coaching stint at Houston, Herman has found tremendous success with a true, dual-threat quarterback to rely upon.
Since arriving at Texas, though, Herman inherited Shane Buechele, who can make plays with his legs, but is much more of a pocket passer, and started freshman Sam Ehlinger in six games, equating to a team-high 385 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. Furthermore, Texas’ 2018 class brings in a pair of early enrollees in Cameron Rising, who can be considered a bigger, stronger version of Buechele, and Casey Thompson, who is also more than capable of making plays with his legs when necessary, as he did en route to 1,564 rushing yards throughout his final two high school seasons.
But as far as this entire bunch is concerned, it’s Johnson, the high school senior-to-be, that’s the premier runner and fits the mold of a Herman quarterback more ideally, as Luginbill noted.
“Johnson is the closest thing to what Tom Herman has wanted at quarterback since he got to Texas and similar to what Herman had in Braxton Miller at Ohio State.”
By the time Johnson arrives on the Forty Acres, he’ll be the freshest face in a quarterback room full of former 4-star prospects. However, bearing in mind Johnson’s elite athleticism and hand-in-glove fit in Herman’s system, if one of the other four gunslingers don’t have the starting role secured by the end of the 2018 season, Johnson will have a significant say in the quarterback competition in 2019.
