[LeeCoUKFan]

Johnson will take visits, but says he's solid to UK

Justin Rowland
CatsIllustrated.com Football Recruiting Analyst

Brooklyn (N.Y.) ASA College defensive tackle Cory Johnson committed to Kentucky while visiting Lexington for the first time in July and this week he gave Cats Illustrated an exclusive interview largely focused on that choice.

Johnson is just another reason Kentucky fans are excited about the future of the defensive line. Mark Stoops and the coaching staff have been stockpiling talent in the trenches and Johnson, rated a four-star prospect by Rivals.com, has the opportunity to come in and start right away.

Just don't talk to him about promises.

"Yeah, they told me (he could start) all the time right off the bat," Johnson said. "I've got a real good shot at starting once I get there but I'm not really worried about all that. That doesn't mean anything to me. It's just an opportunity. That's all I was looking for, an opportunity to come in and prove myself."

And it happens that he will have an opportunity to do that under coaches he highly respects.

It helps that Jimmy Brumbaugh has coaching experience at the junior college level.

"He's always told me about his plan for the defensive line. We talk about schemes and stuff like that. We talk about all that defensive line stuff and the things he teaches. Once you go to the NFL it's already like you've been there if you played for coach Brumbaugh. He teaches stuff the NFL uses. That was a big factor for me. I want to go in somewhere already feeling comfortable and that's how it will be. I've also got a chance to go to the NFL," he explained.

Johnson said that Kentucky's coaches showed him videos of defensive linemen from Florida State coached by Stoops and new UK defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot. That helped as well.

Going into his July unofficial to Kentucky it seemed like the Cats were about even with Miami.

"I already liked Kentucky going in and I had told coach (Brumbaugh) I wanted to commit but I wanted to come down and see the place. Basically just coming in and seeing it sealed the deal," Johnson said.

"To be quite honest with you if Miami was a little closer to home I might have went there. I already had a thing with those coaches from them being at Temple. But Miami's just too far, man. My parents weren't behind the whole Miami thing. I liked it but my people didn't like it," Johnson said.

Ironically enough those same people are pushing Johnson to continue forward with official visits even though he's verbally committed to UK.

Most of Johnson's family is from South Carolina except his father, who is from Pennsylvania, where Johnson attended high school.

"I don't want to get into it too much," Johnson said of his official visit plans. "I'm planning on still taking my visits. Mostly it's just my parents want me to still take visits. They're still behind me going to Kentucky, they just want me to take visits. I don't really know what their reason is and I've told them no matter what I'm still coming back to Kentucky."

Johnson said he had an open mind when the recruiting process began this time around so he was immediately willing to listen to what the UK coaches had to say.

Another plus for him with Kentucky is the future of the Cats' defensive line.

"I really think it's going to be great with Za'Darius (Smith) there on the edge. I know they had the other kid that's coming in that was a Florida State commit (Denzel Ware). There are a couple of other guys that can play end. There's going to be a lot of guys working hard. I feel like it's going to be a great group," he said.

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1536602