Article on Jordan Johnson Spoiler ST. LOUIS – Jordan Johnson sees the list daily on his way to the DeSmet Jesuit locker room. It’s a reminder of what’s possible and where he’s been. It’s also a reminder of the opportunity cost of thinking too far ahead because everything counts, every lift missed and every voluntary 7-on-7 session skipped. It’s been that way since Johnson transferred into DeSmet as an unknown sophomore under new head coach Robert Steeples, and that’s not changing even after he committed to Notre Dame earlier this month as its highest-rated receiver since Michael Floyd. When Steeples took over this moribund program three years ago, DeSmet had fallen hard from contending for championships to barely competing. So Steeples, a DeSmet product who played at Missouri, Memphis and in the NFL, wanted his roster to start earning something outside of Friday nights. Steeples started to track weight room attendance and playbook retention. He tracked who’s asking questions in meetings when they don’t have the answers. And then he totaled that list up, posting it on the ground floor of DeSmet near the locker room entrance. Those who worked rose up the list. Those who didn’t, fell. The reward for it all was preferential choice of jersey numbers, meaning that the harder you worked, the better number you got. Jordan Johnson wore No. 1 the past two seasons, his focus nowhere else but helping DeSmet rebuild from a one-win season as a sophomore to a nine-win campaign last fall. And then recruiting got in the way. Now Johnson ranks No. 16 on the DeSmet work list out of more than 60 players, although Steeples said misses due to recruiting will eventually be excused. Still, it will be hard for Johnson to ascend back to the top, even after setting the school record for broad jump at 10 feet, 8 inches. Steeples expects the vertical jump mark to fall later this spring. It is held, for now, by former Notre Dame running back Munir Prince (40 inches). “We’ll see if he’s No. 1 this year,” Steeples said. “He really takes work seriously.” All this from a wide receiver who already benches 250 pounds and can squat 370. And still, Johnson knows he needs to get back to training at DeSmet now that his recruitment is over, wrapped up during an official visit to Notre Dame earlier this month. Johnson can get back to what made him unique for a high school prospect, compartmentalizing limitless potential for the sake of production now. “Kind of cliché a little bit, but I pushed to be No. 1 for everything,” Johnson said. “Being No. 1 means a lot to me. People know, ‘He’s No. 1. He’s got the No. 1 jersey.’ ” The counterintuitive part of it all for Johnson, who chose Notre Dame over Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and USC, is he’d rather you figure this out on your own than have to tell you. It’s a message that’s long since been received by coaches and teammates at DeSmet. Ask about official visits or recruiting attention and Johnson will talk about it. Don’t, and he won’t. Aside from the dark Notre Dame skull cap Johnson wore Tuesday when attending a voluntary 7-on-7 practice before school, there’s little evidence of where he’s going, at least beyond his college sophomore body that would fit into the Irish receiver room right now. For Johnson, recruiting was always a means to an end. And he’s more interested in those means than where they will take him. Even how Johnson ended his recruitment speaks to that. He committed three months ahead of schedule instead of going public as planned on July 28, his mother Sonya White’s birthday. Johnson committed on April 6 during his official visit, when he was joined by White and his father, Bobby Johnson, who lives on the West Coast with his stepmom. “I wanted my mom’s birthday to be more about her instead of making it a huge thing,” Johnson said. “It was great timing.” Johnson announced his commitment on social media. There was no hat game, no local television appearance, no commitment tease. Johnson said he barely gave the Notre Dame coaching staff a heads up. But he figured receivers coach DelVaughn Alexander and offensive coordinator Chip Long knew this decision was coming eventually. Johnson had been connecting plenty with Notre Dame for the past six months after a recruiting false start. And Johnson is not one to waste words or time. So spending both on Notre Dame said a lot. Still, none of this is to say Johnson’s final decision to play college football in South Bend was inevitable. Second-grade Jordan Johnson wanted to quit football, so he did. He didn’t like the contact and thought he was “too soft” for it. When it got cold out and the team practiced in the elements, he hated that too. But the worst was his helmet, tight enough that taking it off turned into an uncomfortable production. “At the end of practice when they’d have to take their helmet off and listen to the coaches, he’d keep his on because it was a struggle to take it off,” White said. Johnson threw himself into basketball, hoping it could carve a path out of St. Louis on a scholarship somewhere. And then, the thing that should have made Johnson an even better fit for hoops started to work in reverse. He kept growing, kept getting bigger. A player that didn’t like hitting in football suddenly didn’t like all the foul calls against him in basketball. The kid who got roughed up was now the one doing the roughing. So, about six years after quitting football, Johnson gave it another shot with a rec league team, the Chesterfield Bears. The second time around, the fit was right, helmet included. Johnson could hold his own. He enrolled at Marquette High School on the city’s west side and played an anonymous freshman year. When White purchased a new home in a different part of the metro area, it opened the door for a new school, too. White didn’t think much of the public options. One of Johnson’s friends suggested shadowing him at DeSmet. The program was coming off a two-win season with a first-year head coach, but no matter. Johnson sat with Steeples and went over an outline he had in his phone about fits, academic, athletic and cultural. Johnson wanted to know where this might all go. Steeples liked what he heard, even if he had no idea what he was getting when it came to a receiver. “Just knew he was a really good kid, sort of the kind who didn’t eat dinner until the room is clean. A yes sir, no sir type of kid,” Steeples said. “You’re really looking for leaders. If you’re that type of kid, I want you. I don’t care what you can do. It just helped that he had a high level of ability attached to that character.” During his sophomore season, one good enough that Nebraska offered during an art class that November, Johnson laid down a marker with the rest of the roster that they’d either come up to his level or get run over. That’s why when Steeples gets asked what game showed him Johnson might play his way beyond DeSmet, he points to a practice. And his teammates, even ones who will follow Johnson into college football, learned the same lesson. “My freshman year, I didn’t play because I was hurt and in practice there was a time I was guarding him,” said sophomore cornerback Jakailin Johnson (no relation). “I was going light and he kind of messed me up.” Jordan Johnson (right) and teammate Jakailin Johnson. (Pete Sampson / The Athletic) Since then, Jakailin has earned offers from Notre Dame, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa State and Oklahoma State. Jordan pushed Jakailin in the weight room, too. During skull crushers, a triceps workout, Jakailin started with a 15-pound weight. Jordan told him to grab a 25-pounder. So Jakailin did, the push forward from Jordan a regular part of DeSmet’s lifts four times per week. “When he lifts he goes 110 percent,” Jakailin said. “He goes harder than, I’m not gonna lie, most of the people on the team. When we see him lift, he pushes us. Some weights that we’re comfortable with, he pushes us to go higher to where we’re not comfortable, so we can get the best that we can get. He pushes us to be the best that we can be.” Jordan Johnson finished his junior season with 28 catches for 721 yards and nine touchdowns. DeSmet went 9-3, a season that included a 17-14 loss to Vianney, which included Notre Dame early enrollee running back Kyren Williams. Johnson and Williams also played some 7-on-7 with Chicagoland program Boom, which turned out freshman cornerback Houston Griffith and soon-to-be NFL Draft picks Miles Boykin and Julian Love. There were always enough connections to South Bend that Notre Dame appeared to be a natural fit for Johnson from the start. The problem was that Johnson’s first recruiting visit to Notre Dame was a disaster. This was not the first impression Notre Dame wanted to make, but it made it just the same. During a Junior Day last March, less than two months after the Irish offered, Johnson traveled to South Bend with White for an introduction. Johnson wasn’t feeling up for it, in part because White was sick. She passed on some of the informational meetings and settled for the general gist of what Notre Dame was all about. “Initially, I wasn’t super impressed,” White said. “I think because everything had just started in recruiting and we’d already visited other schools. It just seemed like the same, old stuff that we had heard.” Johnson wasn’t ready to cross Notre Dame off his list, but the Irish would have to work to stay on it. “I didn’t like Notre Dame at first,” Johnson said. “I hated my first visit. I didn’t like it at all. The campus was kind of dry, too.” For Notre Dame to work its way back into Johnson’s recruitment it would have to wait until the spring contact period when offensive coordinator Chip Long made the trip to DeSmet. Long laid out how Notre Dame wanted and needed Johnson in an offense short on playmakers at receiver. Johnson started listening. When White doubled back with Steeples to better understand who was who in recruiting, the DeSmet coach told her Notre Dame and Arkansas were coming after her son hardest. If Notre Dame was willing to put this much into Johnson’s recruitment, maybe the Irish were worth a second look, mother and son thought. From there, the Irish never really let up through Long and Alexander, both making DeSmet a regular stop. Long kept emphasizing how much Notre Dame needed Johnson, which became obvious watching the 30-3 blowout loss to Clemson in the Cotton Bowl. “I could see how I could fit, especially on the outside,” Johnson said. “I trusted what (Long) was saying. He was being real with me.” White started to come around too, intrigued by the 4-for-40 approach and assurances Notre Dame would stick with Johnson during and after his college career, no matter how it went. They returned last winter for a do-over and got the impression Notre Dame had always wanted to make. When Johnson and both parents returned for a third look, spending time at Brian Kelly’s lake house during an official visit weekend early this month, Johnson was sold. He told both his parents that Notre Dame would be the pick. Johnson said loyalty from the coaching staff at Notre Dame drove the decision most. A chance to play early slotted second. The academic reputation that comes with a Notre Dame degree came somewhere after that, meaning Johnson made the kind of football-first decision the Irish don’t get often. “He’s in a situation where he can have it all,” Steeples said. “There’s no perfect fit. It’s just a matter of who’s got enough resources and believes in you enough to give you a chance. The rest is on you to make up with your work ethic and your resiliency.” Johnson knows all that. Everybody around DeSmet does. Now Notre Dame does too. And if there’s any question about the drive Johnson brings daily, there’s a chart hanging outside the DeSmet locker room that provides every answer you need. (Top photo of Jordan Johnson: Pete Sampson / The Athletic)
How you feeling today beeds? Wishing to a speedy recovery. I was just coming to post this article, so thank you
Our thread is getting old, all you guys having surgeries and shit. Hope you guys are doing well brothers. We need to do a meet up sometime soon.
Definitely. I know 3 football players are bouncing at Corbys now (Shannon, Ewell, and possibly Lugg but definitely an OL). Maybe grab a beer there soon.
lol when my mom had her knee replaced she had I'm guessing that same machine, it was cool, I threw it on my leg once and it worked.
I'm down. We can text or PM when you guys are healed up but it would be fun to do a Corby's trip with all the local guys.
Only positive from this surgery (other than relief from the pain, of course) is I spend the next 6-8 weeks recovering out at my parents house in San Diego. But for sure once in back this summer, I'm up for a drink
You lucky bitch. I rehabbed in Niles at my folks place in winter when I broke the hell out of my leg. My best thing was my dad buying me an xbox and bringing it to the hospital. Damn left coast elite. ;)
Just got the new SI I'm sure it is regional but the first several pages are a glowing thing about ND football. That surprised me. Tiger on the cover ND inside. I'll be keeping this one.
2019 Notre Dame Football Home Schedule Sept. 14 New Mexico NBC 2:30 p.m. Sept. 28 Virginia NBC 3:30 p.m. Oct. 5 Bowling Green NBC 3:30 p.m. Oct. 12 USC NBC 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2 Virginia Tech NBC 2:30 p.m. Nov. 16 Navy NBC 2:30 p.m. Nov. 23 Boston College NBC 2:30 p.m. Only one night game this year.
Good year to not bother giving money to get in to the lottery. Any game I go to I'll just pay half of face on StubHub.
I feel bad bc I don't like selling tickets on the secondary market, but with surgery and planning for a wedding next year, I didn't feel like shelling out $1100 for games I'm really not interested in. So far I've sold all but opener, UVA and USC and have covered the cost of my tickets.
Dammit. Thought i had found a great cheap room but the host let my reservation lapse or something. New options seem significantly less nice or more costly.
That will be the one game I'm for sure going to. But I'm always happy to ask around the office for tickets
I might have a guy. I don't know what asking is or will be but they offload tickets a lot. Hell if someone wants season seats I think I have a guy still offering them for cost.
Lax beat UNC to close out the regular season. Finish #3 in the acc, play Duke in the semis of the tournament. We *should* be in the NCAA tournament regardless of that outcome, but another win could potentially lock up a home game in the first round.
Back home from the hospital today. Gonna be a long journey, but I should be set up tailgating at pole 15 September 14
it sounds like Tosh could commit to ND before he even returns for his OV...it's pretty clear he's going to be Irish Spoiler Latest with Notre Dame and top OL target Tosh Baker VIP ByTOM LOY 3 hours ago 6 Even the casual Notre Dame recruiting fan knows all about Phoenix (Ariz.) Pinnacle four-star offensive tackle Tosh Baker. Calling him a top priority for the Fighting Irish in the class of 2020 is surely an understatement. 247Sports and Irish Illustrated bring fans the latest on the 6-8, 275-pounder and Notre Dame. Baker says that Notre Dame offensive line coach Jeff Quinn has been in touch and the Fighting Irish assistant coach will head out west to see Baker twice in May. The nation’s No. 40 overall prospect according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings says Quinn will stop by his school on May 6 and then return shortly after on May 15. It’s clear that nothing has changed and Notre Dame will leave no stone unturned in its attempt to land its long time top of the board tackle prospect. This staff is doing everything it can to secure his pledge early. Notre Dame is the favorite per the 247Sports Crystal Ball. There are two predictions in and both myself and Irish Illustrated’s Kevin Sinclair have him ending up with the Fighting Irish. This goes along with what we’ve been hearing for months regarding Notre Dame’s chances. I was told Notre Dame led way back in January, which is why I put the back in, and that is how I believe things stand at this point. Naturally, there are some heavy-hitters still very much in play including USC, Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, Oklahoma and Stanford, but as it stands right now, the Fighting Irish look to be at the top of the charts for Baker. Notre Dame has hosted Baker twice already. He first visited back in Dec. 2018 and landed an offer from the Fighting Irish. It was that visit that seemed to be the game-changer that put the Fighting Irish in the hunt. Then he returned to South Bend on March 30 and it was then that I was told Notre Dame had a strong lead in this recruitment. Unless some strong sources are misreading this one, the Irish look to have a strong advantage in this one heading into the summer months. Now it’s about closing the deal and the staff will look to get him back for an official visit and shut this one down. That visit is still in the works and should be locked in very soon. However, in all reality, if all continues to go well, I’m not guaranteeing that he needs to return again to make his decision. Notre Dame laid out the red carpet last trip. If he wants to be Irish, he may not need to visit again before deciding. Per 247Sports, Baker is the No. 55 overall recruit in the country, No. 6 offensive tackle nationally and No. 4 recruit in Arizona from the class of 2020.
Jerry matured so much over his time at ND. He turned into the player we all thought he could be. Wish nothing but the best for the guy.
It's been 22 years since ND has had a first round DE pick. That's amazing and sad. Pete's mailbag https://theathletic.com/939162/2019...efensive-end-depth-qb-recruiting-brian-kelly/
so the defensive end depth chart is just insane. Honestly feels a bit of a bummer to have all this talent at once. Honestly if you change our 2nd string DEnds for 2015 jaylon heads up both teams wouldve been so much better. That 2015 team had so little pass rush that it was just amazing that the team was as good as it was
Thoros of Beer whats the word on premium tickets for this Liverpool match (that's effeminate Euro for 'game')