Texas Football: First 2023 commit comes in 4-Star DB Jamel Johnson

The highly-anticipated first commit has arrived, at least since the de-commitment of five-star El Campo running back Rueben Owens over the summer, for the 2023 Texas football recruiting class and first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian. Texas snagged a big commitment on the morning of Nov. 4 from the touted four-star Arlington-Seguin cornerback Jamel Johnson.

Since Owens de-committed from the Longhorns 2023 class back in June, Sark and his staff have patiently scoped out the landscape of what they could get to build the foundation for this cycle. And that wound up resulting in a commitment from Johnson this week.

Texas has shown some weaknesses in the secondary this fall. And unless Texas is able to land a commitment from the elite five-star North Shore cornerback Denver Harris when it’s all said and done in the 2022 class, help will be needed at the cornerback position in the 2023 class.

Building out a solid secondary is something that would be major for the Longhorns to hit on in the 2023 class out of the gates. And Johnson is a good place to start. He is a versatile fit that can play at both safety and cornerback. The 6-foot-1 and 175-pound defensive back hailing out of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is similar in that sense to the Longhorns 2022 four-star DB commit and Denton-Ryan product Austin Jordan.

Texas football gets the first 2023 commit in 4-Star DB Jamel Johnson

Johnson announced his commitment to Texas on the morning of Nov. 4, live on CBS Sports HQ. The finalist schools that he had on the table (literally in terms of this live video stream) were the Longhorns, Texas A&M Aggies, LSU Tigers, and Oklahoma Sooners.

Some of the other notable schools that were in the top 10 for Johnson were the Alabama Crimson Tide, Michigan Wolverines, and USC Trojans.

This is also a big get for the Longhorns so that the secondary can get more size and ranginess in the defensive backfield. This was good work by new cornerbacks coach Terry Joseph and special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Jeff Banks to build a solid relationship with Johnson early on to get a commitment out of him this fall.

Although Johnson will not bring elite speed and agility to the table for the secondary, he is still an above-average athlete. His range and ball skills allow his versatility to shine in the secondary too. Johnson has good fundamentals and gets out of breaks fast when needed. He should be a very solid cover corner for the Longhorns.

The versatility he brings to the table should also allow him to be a more adept safety in pass coverage assignments, if that’s where the staff ultimately wants to play him.

What is really exciting for the Longhorns in terms of what Johnson brings to the table for them is his sure-tackling ability. The approaches and tackling ability that the current Texas safeties, and some of the cornerbacks, bring to the table is less than stellar. Safety usually has the most missed tackles of any position group per capita week in and week out.

Since Johnson is a good tackler in the open field, and he is good at stopping the run near the line of scrimmage, he could be a huge boost to the Texas defense in this regard.

The main areas where Johnson still needs to improve are with his deep pass coverage ability and awareness when the play isn’t close to him. He also could put on some size before officially taking his talents to the next level.

Johnson can get lost at times for Seguin when the play is away from him. And that can result in some detrimental plays when there’s a delay in a deep pass developing. He can then get beat over the top when he’s lost in coverage.

But these are some aspects of Johnson’s game and physical profile where he still has ample time to improve. The fact that he’s already a talented and versatile defensive back that can help to solve a lot of problems that the Texas secondary is facing right now is great news in and of itself.

Johnson is one of the higher-rated defensive backs for the 2023 recruiting cycle that Texas has offered. He ranks as the nation’s No. 178 2022 high school prospect, No. 15 safety, and No. 27 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite).