Auburn football: Kerryon Johnson shares interesting recruiting secret

Apparently, Auburn football saw something in Kerryon Johnson that other programs didn’t spot in the recruitment process.

A running back.

The now-professional RB that was recently signed by the Philadelphia Eagles revealed on Twitter that other schools didn’t want him to play on the scoring side of the football.

Per Johnson’s verified Twitter page:

While much of the offseason has been spent seeing former Tigers coach Gus Malzahn get slighted for the way he ran his offense, Johnson’s breakout in orange and blue shows that he had a keen eye on talent.

As the offensive coordinator under Gene Chizik, he was able to mold the game of Cam Newton after he found a starting role with Auburn football that he may not have gotten at Florida. He later took former Georgia safety Nick Marshall and turned him into an SEC Championship-winning QB.

That sort of eye for talent should surely benefit UCF as they begin their quest to become the first Group of 5 program to make the College Football Playoff.

As for Johnson, boy did he prove the likes of Clemson, Florida State, LSU, and even Alabama wrong in their initial recruitment of the Madison, Alabama product. His final season on the Plains saw the then-junior rush for 1,391 yards and 18 touchdowns and grab 194 yards and two TDs on the receiving end.

While there’s no doubt the rugged speedster would have probably done well for himself as a safety tracking down opposing RBs–which was what he was looked at to be by the aforementioned schools–he is doing just fine as a bulldozing runner himself. You could thank Tim Horton and Rhett Lashlee for unleashing Johnson on the football world as a dual-threat backfield threat.