welcome back to another episode of rock boys football we got USC football in less than 72 hours but a lot of the USC fans know the recruiting game does not stop Lincoln Riley USC Landing you know dare I say diamond in the rough three star wide receiver James Johnson from the state of Georgia committing to USC now I think why I would use the term diamond in the rough as one hand up we know we haven't talked about this kid a lick all summer I was not very familiar with James Johnson until I heard that he was committing on Friday you dive into the film of James Johnson and say this kid has a ton of juice and then you look at the offer List look at his top five Georgia Ohio State LSU UCF and USC you take a look at some of the offers you know Texas Oklahoma this kid was extremely coveted at the power four level and you take a look at the recruiting Services I think you might just chalk this one up to 2 4 Seven Sports just might be missing on a guy like James Johnson I would book it right now you take a look at him wouldn't be surprised come national Signing Day yet James Johnson's ranking significantly increases over the next couple of months and why I think this kid is you know so fascinating I turn on the film and immediately kind of understand why all these power four programs are after him the movement skills are kind of Next Level he's a three- sport athlete plays baseball basketball track and football that's actually Four Sports you see the track and field long speed on full display but I think what really stands out to me about James Johnson is this kid's movement skills are kind of next level like the short area Quicks the ability to make people Miss I think one of the fascinating conversations where we'll kind of get into the film and we'll talk about this a little bit more where does James Johnson play at USC because the wide receiver film when this kid has the football on his hands love it but then you take a look at some of the defensive back film whether he's playing Nick safety there's a lot to like about James Johnson on the defensive side of the football as well 510 180 pounds does not lack any sort of physicality and with the elite movement skills that he has I kind of like him at that nickel quarterback spot too will get into the film we'll kind of chop up how we think and where we think James Johnson's GNA play want to get into the film talk a little bit about the athlete before we do it as always just want to say thank you to you guys and to the USC fans the last couple months talking this program on the recruiting Trail it's been a blast I can't thank you guys enough for all the support if you all do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel and without further Ado let's get into James Johnson again I think we got to start with just the caliber of athlete this kid you can tell he's a multiport athlete because the movement skills the long speed the overall coordination of the athlete it's certainly there and I don't want to waste too much time talking about it and more just dive into a little bit of the film and I think you see it on full display here playing the Special Teams game this take a look at this rep right here I'm going to mute this mute the uh the film real quick I don't know why James Johnson is deciding to return this Punt and then I immediately understand why he does I mean this is a guy that you take a look at this he's gonna make him all this I mean you talk about movement skills you talk about that Elite short area quickness that I feel like is one of the more underrated Concepts that when we talk about these high school prospects we always want to talk about you know the track and field times yes I care how fast you can run in a straight line being fast certainly helps you be a good football player what I care a little bit more about is how well you can get in and out of your breaks in and out of your Cuts whether it's creating separation in route trees whether it's operating after the catch James Johnson's movement skills that's what stands out to me you get the sense of a little bit of long speed too he's a Strider in open space but again I think the long speed's certainly there but I I think what's most impressive is the short area quickness now you take a look at him on the defensive side of the football one instincts this is a kid that's going to come down from that safety spot and you know one read the quarterback's eyes and then two look how fast this kid can trigger downhill again you talk about short area Quicks gets going real fast with this one and take it to the house the other way but you kind of like some of the instincts that he puts on display as well you continue to work through the film and I think you can continue to see why so many power four programs were in on this kid and quite frankly I think 247 Sports just needs to get some more eyeballs on this film because you take a look at him and say when he has the football in his hands I mean he is so Dynamic and again you talk about short area Quicks one making someone Miss but look at the acceleration here I mean he's going from zero right here to absolutely 100 awfully quick I mean the acceleration the ability to kind of vary your speeds extremely exciting really good feeli too you see a little bit of the long speed if you are oh this is the one where he Hawks the guy down that's right got a little bit of long speed there showing a little bit effort not sure why we needed to include that on the highlights quite frankly but hey we continue to work through the film and you continue to like what you see from James Johnson again creating a little separation little slip screen here making people miss so fluid with the football on his hands like you look at this kid and say I understand why a lot of power four programs were after this kid and I think why he's so low on the recruiting services are you don't have crazy verified tracks track and track and field times excuse me he's 510 180 so it's not necessarily this prototypical impressive frame and a lot of times that's kind of how these recruiting Services you know filter through a lot of high school football players and to give 247 Sports and on three you know kind of some slack there are a lot of really good athletes across the country that play high school football so I don't necessarily blame them for kind of filtering through know body types and track and field times that being said you do have some of these guys like James Johnson kind of slip through the cracks and I think you look up at this USC class in 2025 and say you know one we're feeling pretty good about the class only this will be the 18th commitment and you're sitting at top 15 class in the country immediately once it's starting easy to get click the immediate Buzz about Julian Lewis transfering from or flipping his commitment from USC has magically seemed to die down I believe he'll be out in Las Vegas on Sunday night for the USC game would be surprised at this point if Julian Lewis is not signing his letter of intent to play with USC but you scroll down the list and say won bunch of Playmakers you got some really athletic linebackers Mata and Jayden Padia if you're a USC fan I think you're a really big fan of how this 2025 classes coming together but I think you know more importantly the next couple of months for USC in terms of on the football field I think it's going to be massive because you saw some of the momentum building within this USC program I think the 2023 season and the disappointment specifically on the defens side of the football it it makes it hard to recruit those Elite athletes on the defensive side until they see that they can come to a coaching staff that is going to develop the Personnel you know if Dan ly can come into USC and do what he did at UCLA a year ago and kind of showed that if you come to USC you're going to go to the NFL draft you're going to be part of a very good defense that's going to flip the script in terms of how these defensive prospects view this USC program and so I don't know if it'll be at the end of 2025 where you see some guys flipping their commitment to USC or just in the 2026 class I would not be surprised if kind of USC can build some momentum on the recruiting Trail if they perform the way I think a lot of us expect them to perform specifically on the defensive side of the football going to be a really fun team to watch over the next couple weeks you guys know I am very excited about the game Sunday night we'll close it out there again appreciate you guys rocking with the boys fired up for the game Sunday night we'll immediately react to it here appreciate you guys and we'll talk to y'all later peace