Ferentz on De'Andre Johnson

De'Andre Johnson caught Iowa's eye during his junior year, when he rushed for 1,121 yards and 10 TDs at Monsignor Pace High School in Miami. That good junior year was all Iowa had when it offered Johnson, who missed his senior season after suffering a torn ACL. He also had a pretty good sophomore year for Pace, 727 yards and seven TDs.

Johnson told me last fall his knee was progressing. He might even be able to defend the state shot put title he won as a junior. He's 5-8, 210 and, with that shot put title, obviously has some power in his body.

Links -- Here's a story from the Orlando Sentinel when Johnson committed. . . . Here's the Miami Herald story on Johnson's commitment. . . . Here's the story I wrote when Johnson committed. He gave some frank answers to what happened to his recruiting after he tore his ACL. To Iowa's credit, it stuck by him.

Bio -- From UI sports info: High school honors - - Named to all-Dade County team as a junior before missing senior season due to injury . . . Career - - team captain as a senior, despite missing season due to injury . . . prep team advanced to state playoffs for three straight seasons, posting a 20-5 record in his final two seasons . . . rushed 155 times for 1,121 yards and 10 touchdowns as a junior, and had 68 yards on six pass receptions . . . rushed 120 times for 727 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore . . . also lettered in track, winning state shot put title as a junior.

Personal - - Born 1/02/92 . . . open major . . . parents are Pauletta Roberts and Michael Johnson . . . high school coach was Alvin Slaughter.

Ferentz on -- On having eight scholarship running backs: "But I can't remember us having too many good players at any one position. I certainly can't remember us having too many running backs. My memory is a little bit recent right now. I was just happy this past year to have two in one game.

"And it seems like that's kind of how it shook out years past. But I think we do have an opportunity right now to have a good group. And that's really important, because as you know we like to play with balance. We like to have tight ends on the field. More than occasionally we like to run the football if we get that opportunity. So I'm really pleased."

On what he sees in Johnson: "De'Andre Johnson is someone we liked coming out of his junior year. Unfortunately he was injured this year. If he's not ready to go full speed in August, there's no sense of urgency. I think we've got enough depth right now.

"We'll let that play itself out. But we're really pleased about both these guys. He's a strong player, too, not as big but he's a strong player as well. Shotput champion. Kind of interesting. Haven't heard that too often. But interesting prospect."

Projection is fun -- I find the shot put title more interesting than I probably should. Johnson won his title with a toss of 54-10. But I do know that the shot put is an event that can be highly technical. I'm wondering how much refinement Johnson had in his technique. I'm guessing he didn't get a heck of a lot of coaching, so that was pretty much raw power at work. If that's true, that's an impressive, powerful athlete.

That fact makes me think that Iowa could have a potential strong safety here. Again, I'm probably reading too much into that, but at minimum, it shows the kind of power you want in a Big Ten running back.

I'm pretty sure this is him. This would've been from Johnson's sophomore year.