Rutgers recruiting: Former Temple commit, Cory Johnson, talks picking up an offer from the Scarlet Knights
Todderick Hunt, NJ.com
By Todderick Hunt, NJ.com on May 18, 2013 at 7:39 PM, updated May 18, 2013 at 8:09 PM
Cory Johnson had his future all planned out. A native South Carolinian, the 6-3, 295-pound defensive tackle transferred from Airport high school in Columbia to Chambersburg (Pa.) senior high school after his sophomore year and rose to stardom on the football field after settling down at his second scholastic destination.
He had committed to play college football at Temple University, planning on earning a shot at the NFL at the conclusion of his collegiate playing days. However, his plans came to abrupt halt when he was declared academically ineligible by the NCAA.
"They told me that I didn't have the proper classes that I needed to be cleared by the NCAA. I had to end up taking over 15 classes my senior year trying to get there," said Johnson. "And then I had to take my SAT and get the proper score," Johnson told NJ.com. "It just didn't work out by the time my senior year was over."
Johnson then considered community college but settled on an up-start post-grad club football team called Gattaca (Trenton, N.J.), designed to assist high school and junior college level student-athletes with getting recruited to an NCAA football program. Unfortunately, Gattaca being a non-member of the National Junior College Athletic Association was too big of an issue for Johnson to ignore, leading to him move on to ASA College (a junior college located in Brooklyn, N.Y.).
"I was about to go to some football program in New Jersey called Gattaca, but once I found out it wasn't for me, I left," he said. "Then a previous player that was being recruited to Temple with me let me know about ASA. And that's how I ended up here."
Johnson essentially took a year off from football his first year out of high school, preventing a year of eligibility from being expended. And last season at ASA was his first time on the field since a high school football senior. By the time he reaches a four-year university next spring, he will have three years to play two considering he will have a redshirt year remaining.
"I graduate in the summer, but I'm probably gonna go ahead and play another season at ASA," said Johnson. "Because the way the classes are set up here is by the time the summer semester is over, we are already on our third game, anyway.
"So, I'll just pick up another class or two for extra college credit and play the season out."
The Scarlet Knights recently got involved in Johnson's recruitment as Rutgers assistant Rob Spence took a couple visits to ASA to watch the team practice.
"I heard a lot about Rutgers wanting me, but I never talked to them until they came to practice last Tuesday (two Tuesdays ago). That was my first time meeting with them face to face.
"Coach Spence just let me know that they came up to watch me practice and they wanted to offer me."
In addition to Rutgers, Johnson holds offers from N.C. State, Temple, Miami (Fla.) and Kentucky. And he has a meeting with University of Maryland representatives scheduled next Friday in which they'll discuss a probable offer, as well. So far, he has no leaders although one school stands out to him just a bit.
"I don't know yet, but Miami seems nice. But that's only because of the history of Miami and because it's in Miami," Johnson said. "And I still talk to Temple a lot just because I've been there and I know the area and stuff. But I really don't have a dream team that I want to go to."
Naturally, Johnson, originally saw himself going back to Temple at the conclusion of his junior college stint. And although that is still a possibility, he plans to explore all of his options before making his final choice.
"Going back to Temple was my original plan because I didn't think I was gonna get anything else. I didn't really plan on getting a bunch of big offers because I didn't really have any team that I really wanted to go to. So I just figured I'd end up going back to Temple," he said. "But now other teams want me and I don't really know where I wanna go because I never really thought about it."
Johnson has yet to plan any unofficial visits to four-year institutions but hopes to take trips to the schools showing interest before making his final collegiate decision.
"I want to make some visits before I make a decision because I haven't ever been anywhere," he said. "So I don't wanna go somewhere and end up not being happy just because I thought the school was nice."
Although much more trim and fit than he was when he arrived at ASA, Johnson is still a monster of a man and has even gotten stronger although losing 20 pounds.
"I actually lost some weight," he said. "If you watch my highlight tape, you can see my size changing from game to game. I actually cut down to 295 but I got stronger from when I was 315 when I had taken that year off.
"But now I'm benching 420 (pounds) and squatting 460. ASA, they helped me out a lot because I have never thought of squatting until I got here."