Jaquan Johnson

S – 5’11 190 Sophomore – Miami, Fl

2015 Key Stats:  26 tackles, 1 FF, 1 INT.

Former US Army All-American in H.S. who was revered all over South Florida for his leadership and play at Killian H.S.

Played a lot of ST last year, but got more and more snaps on D as the season progressed.

Very strong tackler despite his smaller stature, with great instincts for the game, and ball skills to boot.

Likely starts the season as SS, but can play FS and maybe even some CB as well, given his versatile skill set.

Will be competing with upperclassmen Jamal Carter and Rayshawn Jenkins for playing time, but is too good to not see the field a ton.

Summary:  How would I like to see Johnson utilized in Manny Diaz attacking 4-3 scheme? I’d love to see him unleashed (but remain at SS) as a monster all over the field in run support, blitzes, and of course coverage.  Think Tyrann “Honey Badger” Mattieu in Orange and Green.  The kid has a chance to be that good.  He has a nose for the ball, and his jarring tackling style should separate RB’s and receivers as well from the ball on more than a few occasions.  In the Spring Game, he had an INT and nearly had a few more picks, so he is plenty adept at staying close to his man on passing plays as well.  50+ tackles, 3-4 INT’s, and a few forced fumbles would be an outstanding sophomore campaign from Johnson.  If Miami’s defense is going to excel, they need a special season from this special player.  He should be very fun to watch.

In 2015, Boston College may have been the single most perplexing team in the entirety of college football. Defensively, the Eagles were among the best teams in the nation, finishing the season with the third-best defense in the nation according to the NCAA S&P+ defensive rankings. But for as good as Boston College was on defense, they were equally bad, if not worse, offensively in 2015, coming in at No. 124 in the NCAA offensive S&P+ rankings.

The duality of BC’s game shows up in the final scores of their 2015 schedule. The Eagles allowed 27 or more points only once (Clemson put up 34 against them) but also failed to ever score more than 17 in any of their 10 games against FBS opponents. The inability to get on the board doomed Boston College to a 3-9 record (0-8 in ACC play), the worst-such mark in head coach Steve Addazio’s three years at the helm.

Last season, Florida State traveled to Chestnut Hill for a Friday night matchup with Boston College in week three of the season. In the ACC opener for both teams, FSU blanked BC, 14-0, riding an incredible defensive performance while the Seminoles offense provided only one touchdown on 217 yards of total offense. This year, the teams will meet on a Friday for the second straight season, facing off in a Veterans Day game on November 11th in Tallahassee. As for the rest of BC’s 2016 schedule, outside of a midseason clash with Clemson on October 7th, the Eagles’ two hardest games both come late in the season in back-to-back weeks in the form of a home matchup against Louisville right before the trip to Tallahassee. Regardless of ACC play, the Eagles should see their wins total rise in 2016 solely due to their soft non-conference schedule which will seem them play no power-five teams, opting instead for recent FBS initiate UMass and FCS foe Wagner as well as games against Buffalo and UConn.

SB Nation’s Bill Connelly released his Boston College preview on Thursday. The entire article is a must-read but below are a few excerpts.

In his preview, Connelly discussed Boston College’s quarterback battle which is fully underway between the returning signal callers and Kentucky transfer Patrick Towles:

BC featured a unique quarterback battle this spring. With Jeff Smith and Troy Flutie both tentatively moving to receiver, that left Darius Wade, walk-on John Fadule, and Kentucky graduate transfer Patrick Towles. Wade showed decent run-pass (but mostly run) potential before he got hurt last year, rushing 18 times for 103 yards (not including sacks).

Towles isn’t going to run very much but has had his moments gunning the ball around. He didn’t have ENOUGH of those moments in Lexington, but in singular performances — 22-for-27 for 249 yards and two scores against Missouri in 2015, 24-for-43 for 390 yards and two scores against Mississippi State in 2014 — he was brilliant.

The choice of Wade vs. Towles is as much about style as quality. Combining Wade with a bull like Hilliman and explosive (and inefficient) options like Tyler Rouse and Myles Willis could give BC a dynamic run game if the principles remain healthy, especially if the line takes a step forward after giving freshmen and sophomores 26 starts last year (and adding Jimmy Lowery, a nearly three-year starter at Eastern Illinois).

On the other hand, if you don’t think you can get enough efficiency out of those running backs, you could go with more of a pass-first attack by having Towles distribute to juniors Thadd Smith, Charlie Callinan, and Drew Barksdale, sophomores Elijah Robinson and Michael Walker, and countless running backs and tight ends.

Knowing Addazio’s style, and acknowledging that Wade was evidently quite a bit better than Towles in the spring game (even while seemingly working on a pass-heavy attack), I figure the former is more likely. But it’s nice to have options, right?

Connelly also addresses a BC defense that returns many players from last year’s team but could very well struggle to emulate last year’s success:

Reid has quite a bit to work with with the return of three of the top five on the line, two of three linebackers, and five of six defensive backs. But injuries will almost certainly hit this unit harder than they did last year, and without the strong core of end Mehdi Abdesmad, tackle Connor Wujcak, and middle linebacker Steven Daniels, it’s easy to wonder if the recipe has been altered a bit too much. Last year’s defense was uniquely brilliant; this year’s may be only good.

It’s hard to believe that Boston College’s offense will be as dreadful as it was in 2015. That being said, it’s seems equally unlikely that the Eagles’ defense will have the same level of success as it found a season ago. Still, a team so polarizing will be very interesting to watch throughout 2016 and if they are able to figure out how to score by November 11th, the Eagles could provide a late-season challenge for the Seminoles.

Pride goeth before the fall, is the old saying.

For the last year as scholarship after scholarship came rolling in for my daughter, I could not have been any happier. After all, all those years of parental involvement and private schools and a million other ways to enrich her intellect was finally paying dividends.

Then, the day of decision came: Oh, she had her choice of many places: UNC, Texas, Berkeley, Wisconsin, a couple of hippie schools of which I intensely disapproved, etc. But, she wanted to be close to home in Birmingham. I naturally assumed then that Alabama would be a shoe-in. Both her mother and I are alums. She was eligible for the President’s Scholars program, and it would have been a free four-year ride.

Did any of those happen? Nooooooo.

The next few days, I will be out of town moving her to her new home, buying some textbooks, and getting her registered for classes…

…at Auburn University.

In the greatest of all ironies, and on this darkest day of my life, I must now confess that I am a War Eagle Dad now. I even have the tee-shirt to prove it. And the bumper sticker.

We tell our children that they can grow up to be anything they want to be, and she has decided to be a future Auburn alum.

Point. Laugh. Mock. I’ve earned it.

Still, at least it wasn’t Tennessee.

—

I’ll see you next week, a bit older, sadder, and beaten down by Camp War Eagle.

Vanderbilt offensive lineman Cole Hardin was in a traffic accident on Thursday afternoon, VandySports.com reports. The sophomore struck a vehicle while riding his moped near campus, according to witnesses who saw the accident.

Here’s the scoop from Chris Lee.

Nashville native Trey Wallace, a witness at the scene who spoke to VandySports.com, said that Hardin, a sophomore center from Florence, Ala., was riding a moped when he struck another vehicle.

Hardin was conscious the entire time and speaking, the witness said, but did appear to sustain either a shoulder or arm injury and was carried to the hospital.

UPDATE as of 2:25 Central: We’ve since learned that Hardin sustained an injury to his right ankle, a gash on his shoulder and abrasions on his right arm.

Hardin was expected to compete for a starting role at center in head coach Derek Mason’s offense this summer. There’s no word yet on his condition or whether he’ll miss a significant chunk of practice as the team gears up for its 2016 campaign.

Florida will rename its football field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Steve Spurrier-Florida Field, the school announced Thursday. The news was broken in an original report from Thomas Goldkamp of 247Sports and confirmed by Edgar Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel.

The school’s official release makes the move seem like an honor that Spurrier did not anticipate he’d receive, which is entirely in keeping with who he is.

“We feel this was an appropriate way to commemorate one the most legendary figures in Gator athletics history,” said Athletics Director Jeremy Foley. “Coach Spurrier did more than win a Heisman Trophy, a national championship and a bunch of games. Coach Spurrier changed the culture of Florida athletics. We were an institution that always had a mantra of wait until next year and wouldn’t it be great to just win one championship.

“Coach changed all of that. The Gators won, won big and won with swagger. As much as he impacted the football program, he changed the vibe in the entire athletic department. He and his wife, Jerri, were big supporters of the entire athletic department – giving advice to different coaches, attending other sporting events and even endowed a scholarship to support women’s athletics.”

Spurrier was aware the University Athletic Association planned to honor him during the 2016 season, but adding his name to the field caught the head ballcoach by surprise.

“I was stunned, really, when Jeremy called,” Spurrier said. “I had no idea that was even being considered.”

Spurrier’s full statement is also the sort of gracious, sorta humble thing one might expect from the lion in winter — down to him remembering exactly how many games he lost at home as head coach.

“I am humbled, honored, thankful and very appreciative that my alma mater, the University of Florida, believes that I am worthy and deserving to have my name placed on Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, also known as ‘The Swamp.’

I was blessed and fortunate to be recruited and then to play for the original ‘Bull Gator’ – Coach Ray Graves in the mid-60s. I was fortunate to play with outstanding and talented teammates that allowed our teams to have winning seasons and play in major bowl games and build lasting friendships for a lifetime.

A very special thanks to Coach Doug Dickey, who hired me as an assistant coach in 1978, and allowing me to enter the coaching profession. I will always be grateful for the opportunity he gave me.

As the head coach in 1990, I inherited a team that was loaded with outstanding players, who were poised and ready to start winning SEC Championships. We have had many truly great All-American, All-SEC and solid wonderful team-oriented players at Florida and I can’t mention them all. I must say that Shane Matthews and Danny Wuerffel were not only two of the greatest quarterbacks in school history, but they were outstanding, excellent, courageous leaders who guided their teams to six SEC championships and one national championship in 1996.

The Swamp is a special place. We coaches and players thoroughly enjoyed playing in front of our fans. We won a bunch of them there and only lost five and they were close ones.

I also met my wife, Jerri Starr, at the University of Florida, she has been a tremendous influence on everything I’ve done since. Again, I say thanks to all of those who made this honor possible and I consider this to be the biggest, most special honor I have ever received.”

While the official name will obviously be a little awkward, the name Florida Field dates to the stadium’s opening in 1930, with the name Ben Hill Griffin added in 1989 to honor the Florida alumnus, one of the state’s most powerful agriculture magnate and one of the school’s biggest donors. It makes sense not to wipe away Florida Field’s history, though Steve Spurrier Field would clearly have run off the tongue a bit more easily.

The timing for the renaming makes plenty of sense, too. The fall of 2016 will have been 50 years since Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy as Florida’s quarterback (and kicker, and punter) in 1966, 20 years since Spurrier’s Gators won the school’s first national championship … and 10 years since Florida escaped South Carolina in Spurrier’s first game in The Swamp as the Gamecocks’ head coach.

And Spurrier remains as singularly beloved as any figure in Florida sports; there’s no good argument against his name being on the field. Spurrier will be in attendance at the official naming during a pregame ceremony for Florida’s season opener on September 3.

Notably, Florida was not quite cruel enough to have such a ceremony prior to South Carolina’s visit to Gainesville, especially given that Spurrier is technically still employed by that university after announcing his resignation as head coach in October 2015. But many of the Gamecocks will make that trip to a road stadium named after the coach who recruited them to Columbia.

Putting Spurrier’s name on the field gives Florida a playing surface named after the man who gave its stadium the enduring nickname — The Swamp — that is its most popular moniker.

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium isn’t The House That Steve Built, not really, though Spurrier’s Gators never played in anything but Ben Hill. But The Swamp is The House That Steve Named — and, soon and forever, will be The House Named After Steve.

A high-profile Wednesday visitor for the Texas Longhorns apparently flew under the public’s radar, as The Football Brainiacs reported on Thursday that Dallas Bishop Dunne cornerback Chevin Calloway, the state’s top prospect at the position, was in Austin.

But perhaps that isn’t surprising, as Bishop Dunne players don’t typically give a lot of interviews and Calloway’s recruitment itself has been pretty low key — he’s not an especially active Twitter user and it’s still early enough in the process for him that determining a leader or a top group of schools from the outside looking in is difficult.

However, the Longhorns may now be in that top group after hosting the 5’10, 180-pounder for what was apparently “an entire day with the staff.” Calloway “loved” the experience, according to The Football Brainiacs.

A visit to Fayetteville to see the Arkansas Razorbacks for the second time recently is in the works for Calloway this weekend. Head coach Bret Bielema’s program also received a visit for the school’s spring game, as did Texas, and Calloway recently said that the Hogs will make his top group of schools when he releases that list soon.

The recent visits from Calloway to Texas — whose 247Sports Crystal Ball only features two predictions for Baylor that are likely outdated at this point — indicates that the ‘Horns are now likely in much better shape than at the start of the spring. At that time, the nation’s No. 13 cornerback, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, didn’t seem particularly interested in head coach Charlie Strong’s program.

Now that’s changed, so Texas should be in good shape to make the first cut for Calloway when it happens and have a better-then-previously-expected chance of eventually landing the star cover corner in a relatively weak year for in-state prospects at the position ahead of some important summer visits.

Texas currently holds one cornerback commitment, a pledge from Lake Dallas product Kobe Boyce.