Signed | Four-Star OL Caleb Johnson

OL Caleb Johnson

Ranking
ISD: 90 – 4-Star
Composite: 89.8 – 4-Star

Vitals
6-7, 295
Trinity Catholic (Ocala, Florida)

Recruiter
Jeff Quinn/Tommy Rees

Recruitment Rundown
An interesting recruitment that may not have had much drama at all if not for COVID-19. A native of Fort Wayne, Ind., Johnson had serious interest in the Irish and Notre Dame wasn’t necessarily late, when it came in with a scholarship offer on March 5th. Of course, the world we live in would change in unimaginable ways just a week later.

With no way of knowing that a recruiting dead period was about to be instituted that will ultimately last more than an entire year, Johnson expected he’d be in South Bend again soon. Nope.

Johnson had multiple impressive visits to Auburn before the shutdown and in May, he announced his commitment to the Tigers.

But the Irish staff never stopped working on Johnson and made it clear how wanted he was in South Bend, a place and a region he felt comfortable with despite not being able to visit in a year.

On Nov. 19th, he announced his decommitment from the Tigers and his commitment to Notre Dame.

Trinity Catholic Head Coach John Brantley III
“Number one is work ethic. He’s probably has as strong a work ethic as any person I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach. At the high school level, that’s tremendous. You don’t always find that. The other thing he’s got, he’s got size. I’ve had a bunch of kids recruited at Trinity Catholic over the years and especially offensive tackles. They’re looking for that height and that length out there to do some things and he has all of those attributes that you’re looking for in a tackle.”

ISD Expert Jamie Uyeyama
The comparison for him is obvious to me. He is very similar to Josh Lugg as a prospect and not just because of the massive frame, but because he is raw in pass protection while still being plenty nasty in the run game. I do think Johnson is a bit better athlete than Lugg, but it’s worth noting that Lugg took a long time before he became someone who could be trusted in pass protection. He got there, but it did not happen overnight.

Johnson is someone who is going to have to work to become a technician to overcome some of his habits. If he can do that, I think he can develop into a solid starter whose best position is likely guard at Notre Dame, though, I could see him at right tackle as well.

He certainly has NFL potential if he puts it all together and has the chance to become a dominating run blocker.

Favorite ISD Quote
“It’s basically just O-Line U. They’ve produced and continue to produce the top o-linemen in college football. I want to be part of that.”

Junior Highlights