Moments after news of Virginia defensive tackle prospect Dustin Dowrey's commitment to Penn State broke, it was reported by Lions247.com's Sean Fitz that fellow defensive tackle Austin Johnson out of New Jersey will join Dowrey in Penn State's Class of 2012 after accepting an offer from the Nittany Lions over the weekend.
The 6'4" 276-pound prospect, like Dowrey, is unranked by the major recruiting services, but claims to have had offers from Boston College, Rugers and Syracuse among others. Johnson hails from Richland, New Jersey and attends St. Augustine. He also thinks highly of Penn State.
"I've just been going to a lot of camps lately, and Penn State was my dream school," he said. " Once they put [the offer] out there, actually they had no idea I was coming to camp but I was supposed to contact a coach but I didn't. They offered me and I took it the day of, I knew that's where I wanted to go. It's my dream school. I love it."
So, for those of you keeping score at home, that's two off-the-radar guys in one night at the same position. I'm sure the recruiting geeks have an explanation for this, so I'll leave it to them. You know I just run the night shift on this stuff.