ORLANDO — Jacobe Johnson went by way of not one teaching change as a recruit, however two.
One of the state’s high two prospects was supplied by each Lincoln Riley and Lon Kruger, and inside a yr, each stepped away.
Johnson — who didn’t formally commit to the Sooners till August — by no means actually wavered a lot.
“I’ve always wanted to be at OU,” Johnson advised AllSooners. “It’s been a dream of mine to be there. So I just wanted to follow up with that dream.”
Johnson is figuring out this week as a member of Team Speed for the Under Armour Next All-America sport Tuesday evening. Practice each day on the ESPN Wide World of Sports advanced has given him an actual peek into what faculty soccer will probably be like.
“Getting to be here with all the other 4- or 5-stars,” Johnson mentioned, “it’s definitely a blessing to be out here and compete with the best.”
Jacobe Johnson
John E. Hoover / AllSooners
He’s additionally gotten a peek into life at Oklahoma. Johnson is one in every of seven OU signees taking part in in Tuesday’s all-star sport alongside DE P.J. Adebawore, QB Jackson Arnold, DB Peyton Bowen, LB Lewis Carter, OT Cayden Green and WR Jaquaize Pettaway.
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“It’s been cool,” Johnson mentioned. “We’ve been talking kind of all week, you know, we get on the field together just so we can get used to (and) kind of get a little fell for each other and how we — because that’s how it’s gonna be when we get to college.”
Johnson mentioned it wasn’t an enormous shock to see this system drop off prefer it did, from 11-2 final yr to 6-6 this yr.
“I had expected it to be tough,” he mentioned. “Because coach Lincoln (Riley) kind of screwed us a little bit, taking everybody and leaving coach (Brent) Venables with some newer players. So it was tough. I expected it to be tough. You can’t just expect them to have like, a like a great, great season with what just happened with what had happened.”
Seeing his future staff battle, Johnson mentioned, lights a hearth underneath him to are available and contribute and make issues higher — by profitable video games.
“It makes me want to come in and change something, like you said,” he mentioned. “I just feel like — I believe everything that coach Venables is doing. I think everything that OU’s doing is going in the right way. So I think coach Venables, he’s getting his guys next year anyways, so should be a difference next year.
“I feel like it’s good to have a defensive-minded head coach, because I play defense. So I should be good.”
Johnson mentioned the plan continues to be to play security, however he’s been figuring out at cornerback in Orlando and mentioned corners coach Jay Valai requested him to be prepared to make a swap if wanted. He was additionally advised to decide a jersey quantity that might permit him to play offense.
And in fact, he’s nonetheless planning to play basketball when he arrives on campus subsequent summer season.
“I got the option to play both sports,” Johnson mentioned. “It’s just gonna be like, how difficult is going to be. Because obviously, I’m going to lock in on football when I get there. Because that’s the main priority, I’ll say. But I love basketball. And I’m gonna play it as long as I can.”
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