Georgia Tech Recruiting: Three-Star DE Luke Johns is Commit No. 12

Ed. Note: Apologies on the tardiness of this article. As I’m sure most of y’all know, Johns actually announced yesterday, but we were unfortunately unable to get anything posted until today.

These last couple days have been pretty exciting for Georgia Tech recruiting. On Thursday, the Yellow Jackets added one of the highest-rated players in their class so far in four-star DB Jaylon King, and then later that day, they added OG Mike Maye. Georgia Tech’s recruiting surge continued later yesterday when the Dalton, GA product Luke Johns posted this on Twitter.

Johns is a defensive end prospect out of Dalton, GA. His Hudl page lists him at 6-4, 241 lbs., and he is rated as a three-star prospect by both Rivals (5.5) and the 247Sports Composite (0.8099). Johns elected to commit to Tech on the spot over other reported offers from Colorado State and Rutgers, while also receiving reported interest from Washington State, Vanderbilt, and Georgia.

Film Review

As a player, Johns has pretty good speed and strength for a defensive end, whom most would consider on the smaller side. In just about every highlight of him, he’s having to get of blocks and then having to go chase the play down, which is exactly what you want to see from players.

Johns also have the versatility to play a few different positions. In those highlights alone, I saw him line up at DE, OLB, and WR (and also some special teams positions). He’ll likely come in as a DE, but he does have at least one pretty good blocking highlight from when he lined up at wide receiver.

There are a few things that Johns still needs to work on. The two big ones, though, are his first step and his tackling technique. There were a lot of times when his first step was a little bit slower than everyone else. At the next level, that won’t fly. You’ll get knocked off your feet before you have a chance to move. His tackling technique also left a lot to be desired. There were a few good tackles in there, where he hit the opposing player straight on, but there were also quite a bit, where Johns only got hands on him and had to spin to bring him down. With some of the stronger running backs and quarterbacks in the ACC, a lot of those players would easily shake out of some of those tackles.

Thankfully, these are both fixable aspects of his game. As he continues to grow and mature as a player, I think we could ultimately see a pretty good player on the Flats.

Welcome to the Flats Luke! Congratulations!