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Juwan Johnson is a 4* wide receiver/safety from Glassboro, New Jersey. He currently holds offers from Penn State, UNC, Pitt, Boston College, Georgia Tech, UMass, Michigan State, ODU, Rutgers, South Carolina, Temple and Virginia, as well as interest from Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, and Wisconsin. I was able to catch up with Juwan to ask him a few questions.
How is the whole recruiting process going for you, in general? Are you enjoying it or is it getting annoying?
Yeah it's a good time overall. It gets annoying at times. But I'm appreciative of everything everyone is doing.
So far, do you have any sort of top group yet? Is anyone standing out?
I have a couple that I guess I would say are my top five. Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Boston College, and Wisconsin.
Are you planning on narrowing the top five down even more before you make your decision, or are you going to keep your list at five and go from there?
I'm going to keep it at that for right now. I'm planning on committing in April, so I'll still have my top five.
What are you really looking for in a school right now?
The big thing is academics. They're important to me. A team that I can communicate with and have fun with. And a place that I can call home. That's pretty much it.
How do you feel about the new staff at Penn State? Are you a fan of the change that occurred?
Oh yeah, I'm a big fan of change, especially coming from the SEC. He has a lot of the things that Big Ten doesn't know. They have some experience and an edge over the Big Ten schools.
Clearly you're in pretty good standing with Penn State right now. Have they been contacting you a lot?
I've talked to Coach Franklin. None of the coaches have been by, but they've been contacting me. The wide receiver coach and Coach Franklin have been touching base with me.
Besides Penn State, is it that top five that you've been hearing from the most, or are there other schools trying to jump in there too?
It's mainly the top schools that have been contacting me a lot and showing the most interest in me.
Are you trying to plan a visit out to State College sometime soon?
Because Penn State is so close, I'll probably plan a visit there pretty soon.
Is there anything else about Penn State that really stands out for you?
The fans. I've been there before and it's crazy. They stand outside before the games, they camp outside. Everybody loves football there.
Being a New Jersey guy, obviously there's a ton of guys from New Jersey that end up going to Penn State. Do you know anyone that either went here or plays here now that you've been talking to?
I know somebody that went there, Gerald Hodges.
I'd say that's a pretty good somebody to know. There are a few different things to take away from this interview, but the main one to me is that Juwan is attracted to the idea of James Franklin bringing his SEC experience to the Big Ten. While it seems obvious that this would be a clear advantage to CJF, it hasn't been discussed much on here. With the number of high profile offers that have been sent out to kids down south, I'd say it's a bigger deal than most of us probably realized at first. I'll be sure to ask any future interviewees about what they think about his SEC reputation and experience as well.
You can follow Juwan on twitter at @TD4johnson.
Thanks for talking with us Juwan!
