Meet 2021 LSU Football Target Caleb Johnson, the Texas Speedster Whose Recruiting is Starting to Pick Up

Johnson's electric speed has turned heads in recent weeks, picking up 18 offers since beginning of March

There aren't many prospects in the 2021 class with the natural speed that Caleb Johnson possesses. That's why so many schools have caught on recently about just how great a prospect he is.

The speedster out of Greenville, Texas said Houston, Oklahoma and Texas A&M have been the teams that have contacted him the most but hopes to start building that relationship up with the Tigers as well. LSU officially made Johnson an offer on May 1 and has since received offers from the Sooners, Aggies, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Florida State.

"It was great receiving that offer especially since they just won the national championship," Johnson said. "My recruiting coordinator was able to get me on the phone with coach [Corey] Raymond so it was pretty exciting for me."

So just how fast is Johnson? As a junior in high school, he was clocked at a 4.39 40-yard dash and ran a 10 second flat 100-yard dash just four meets into his track and field season.

"I think my speed definitely played a part in kind of increasing the interest from those schools," Johnson said. 

LSU is unlike other schools that are recruiting Johnson. While most schools are interested in Johnson on the offensive side of the ball, the Tigers are hoping to bring him in as a defensive back. 

In his initial conversation with Raymond, Johnson mentioned how much the LSU defensive backs coach loves his speed. 

"My speed would obviously give me a huge advantage as a DB and then from my wide receiver film, he thinks I have great ball skills," Johnson said. "Once I work on my technique I could be one of the top corners in the country and he just liked my game as a whole.

"As a DB, one of the common themes is to not get beat deep and with my speed, you won't run past me. The only way you'd be able to beat me is by going on those short and intermediate routes, which is something else I'm working on as well."

While his speed is certainly something that will translate on offense or defense, Johnson said as it pertains to LSU and improving as a defender, the main area of focus is getting his technique down pat.

"I have kind of developed a natural feel for it because even though I didn't play much DB last season, I still worked with them at practice," Johnson said. "I'll be doing a lot of training this summer and perfecting my craft and my technique on the defensive side of the ball.” 

Growing up, Johnson never really was a devoted fan to one particular program, instead watching a variety of Power 5 schools like Oklahoma and LSU. Former Tigers Tyrann Mathieu, Patrick Peterson and Jamal Adams were just a few of the players he'd enjoy watching.

Now that the Tigers have come calling, Johnson said it's a program that he'll have to spend a lot of time thinking about because of the success they've had with pushing guys through to the next level. 

"They have a great program, some great coaches and it pretty much showed with the season they had this past year," Johnson said. "It's most definitely a college that I'm going to be taking very serious."