Coach: DJ Johnson A Quiet, Confident Leader
Don’t be fooled by his calm demeanor, his head coach says, DJ Johnson is a leader with an incredible amount of confidence.
“From what I’ve noticed personality-wise, he’s very quiet and he’s a very focused young man,” says new North Central (Ind.) High School coach Kevin O’Shea, who has been on the job for about two months now.
“When I’ve watched him in the weight room, he knows exactly what he’s doing and where he wants to go with his college career. He wants to play major college football. He’s focused on that. He is a quiet leader. He’s not the big rah-rah, get-in-your-face kind of guy. I like to call it quiet confidence, what I see out of DJ.”
That’s fine with O’Shea.
“I’ve been doing this for 29 years and I’ve seen all different kinds of leaders,” he explains. “I’ve seen the vocal ones, I’ve seen the quiet ones, I’ve seen in between, I’ve seen the lead-by-example ones. I think everybody’s got to stay within their personality. This is DJ’s personality, this is what he’s comfortable doing.
“We’ve given him the freedom to use his voice more during the weight sessions and during workouts and DJ would really prefer to let his work ethic show through. He was a captain last year as a junior from what I’ve been told, so this is a kid the kids obviously respect. You don’t see a kid be a captain as a junior in high school too often.”
Notre Dame extended an offer to the 5-foot-11, 170-pound Indianapolis cornerback earlier this month after a visit from its recruiting coordinator.
“DJ is a smooth athlete,” O’Shea says. “He’s long and he’s athletic. I know those were some of the things I heard when Mike Elston was down here and this is what most coaches are saying, they like his length.
“Nowadays, teams are throwing out 6-3, 6-4 wide receivers and a 5-8 corner is not going to cut. DJ’s a solid 6 feet with real long arms. He’s a great basketball player besides being a great football player. Athletically, I think he would fit in real well.”
Johnson has also has offers from schools like Iowa, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and Cincinnati among others and he’s receiving interest from other schools.
“We’ve had Ohio State in here, we’ve had Tennessee,” O’Shea says. “To be honest with you, I think it’s just kind of beginning for him. He’s just one of those kids who is down to earth and focused. He comes from a military family. I just like the way he goes about things.”
Johnson is planning to be in South Bend for Irish Invasion next month.
His timeline isn’t defined at this point, but may be getting pushed back a bit.
“When I first got here, it was he wanted it taken care of before the season started,” O’Shea says “Now, since some more teams have started rolling in – and with this next wave of recruiting and especially over the summer, I think he’s going to get some more offers. I told DJ, ‘When the time is right, you’ll know it. Don’t put a timeline on it. When you are ready to pull the trigger, you’ll know it.’
“I think he owes it to visit some of these schools to see what they have to offer and see what’s out there. As far as a teenager goes, you need to get up to the school and hang around with your potential teammates because those are the guys you’re going to hang with for the next four or five years. Coaches come and go, we all know that. Nothing is guaranteed. These are the guys you’re going to be hanging with and you need to go up there and visit, not only in South Bend. You need to go up to Iowa, you need to go over to Ohio State, you need to go visit some of these schools and see how you fit it and see what your comfort zone is. If DJ pulled the trigger tomorrow, I’d be right behind him congratulating him and if he waits until signing day, I’ll be right there for him too. I just want him to be comfortable.”