The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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Wideout Cornelius Johnson Rockets Up The National Rankings STATISTICS Year Rec. Yards TD 2018 50 826 12 2017 22 361 6 2016 38 703 10 2015 7 91 1 HONORS • Named 2018 Gatorade Player of the Year in Connecticut. • Was picked to the USA Today All- State first team after his junior and senior seasons. • Earned a spot in the All-American Bowl, formerly known as the Army All-American Bowl, and caught two passes for 24 yards and two touch- downs in the game. • Received All-New England Class A first-team accolades as a junior and senior. • Earned All-Erickson League first- team honors as a junior and senior, after he was named an honorable mention as a sophomore. He was also recognized as the league's Offensive Player of the Year as a senior. RECRUITMENT • Committed to Michigan Dec. 19, 2018. • It was a team effort recruiting John- son — head coach Jim Harbaugh, for- mer passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton and former wide receivers coach Jim McElwain all put in work. Interim wide receivers coach Ben Mc- Daniels (now the quarterbacks coach) also got involved down the stretch af- ter McElwain became the head coach at Central Michigan. • Finished with a top group of Ala- bama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State and Stanford before picking U-M. Also held offers from Nebraska, Nor thwestern and West Virginia, among others. CORNELIUS JOHNSON WIDE RECEIVER 6-3 • 199 BRUNSWICK SCHOOL GREENWICH, CONN. RANKINGS STARS NAT. POS. STATE ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ 171 27 2 ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ 160 24 1 ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ 239 33 2 2019 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY BRANDON BROWN Greenwich (Conn.) Brunswick School wide receiver Cornelius John- son put himself on Michigan's radar at a camp in Ann Arbor during the sum- mer before his junior season. At that time, he looked solid but didn't have any offers and frankly didn't look like a Michigan-level pros- pect. In fact, Johnson picked up his first offer, from Central Michigan, on that day and had just begun the pro- cess that would ultimately lead him to Michigan. Rivals.com Mid-Atlantic recruit- ing analyst Adam Friedman has been watching Johnson since just before that time. "He was a shorter, but long, pros- pect that wasn't filled out very much and didn't have explosive speed," Friedman recalled. "He was a guy that had good hands and ran pretty good routes. If he could get off a jam he could pull away from defenders. "We saw over the course of his ca- reer and into the next offseason after that Michigan camp — between his junior and senior year — a little more progression as far as his physical de- velopment goes. "He got taller, and his frame started to fill out. We saw more quick-twitch movements out of his breaks. He showed a good understanding of how to use his large frame to shield defend- ers from the ball. He figured out how to use his length to help out his quar- terbacks. He just got a lot better." Johnson parlayed that development into a big senior season and ended up bringing home Connecticut's Gatorade Player of the Year award because of it. He at least doubled all of his junior year numbers in his final campaign. Then he went to San Antonio for the All-American Bowl and outshined a lot of receivers ranked higher than him. He ended up catching two passes for 24 yards in the game and scored touchdowns on both grabs, which Friedman couldn't help but notice. "He just continued to progress, and then as a senior he really turned into the prospect that we saw at the All- American Bowl," the expert explained. "He turned out to be a 6-3, almost 200-pound receiver, and he's now a guy that can use his explosiveness and long speed to keep defensive backs off balance. Certainly his hands are still good and reliable too." Johnson himself wasn't surprised with the success he had in San Anto- nio and seemed very happy to finally be getting the recognition that he'd worked so hard to attain. "I always had dreams of making huge plays on NBC, and I was glad I was able to come out here and take Johnson outshined his three-star rating at the All-American Bowl, catching two touchdown passes in the game and later earning consensus four-star status. PHOTO BY NICK LUCERO/COURTESY RIVALS.COM 42 THE WOLVERINE MARCH 2019