Johnson sees early recruiting interest

A solid defensive end that has gone under the radar so far this spring is Citrus DE Raymond Johnson (6-2, 240). The talented defender from southern California worked in a rotation for the Owls in 2007, but he's ready to break out in 2008 and he's hoping a good offseason will result in more attention from D-1 schools.

Johnson prepped at Garey High School in Pomona, Ca. and was a standout on both sides of the ball, but when he arrived at Citrus he said he felt his best position was defensive end.

"I was recruited in high school, but I didn't get the test score I needed so I didn't qualify," Johnson told JCFootball.com recently. "I played tight end and defensive end, but when I got here I told the coaches I wanted to play defensive end.

"It's just more fun being aggressive and with my size and speed, I just felt like I could do better at defensive end."

Last year, while working in as a situational player for the Owls, Johnson registered 28 tackles, including 8 tackles-for-loss. This year he hopes to get into the backfield more and to get the quarterback on a consistent basis.

"When you have a guy like James Dunlap on the other side and we have some good tackles too, that helps you out a lot," Johnson said. "I'm looking forward to getting back there more and I've been focused on my 'get off' and my quickness this offseason so I think I'll be better off this fall."

On the recruiting front, Johnson is hearing from three schools so far, but he's hoping more come along after seeing him in spring ball as well as during the May evaluation period.

"Washington, Nevada and Louisville have been in contact with me and my coaches," Johnson said. "All of them have asked for film on me and they've asked for my transcripts so we're getting that out to them and my coaches think more will start to come on when they see us this spring."

Johnson will graduate in May of 2009 and he'll have three years to play two wherever he ends up.

Raymond Johnson Scout Profile