'Great Focus' for Oklahoma's Jacobe Johnson Means He Can Handle the Two-Way 'Grind'

The Sooners' sophomore DB/WR will continue to play both offense and defense and says he hopes he doesn't have to choose any time soon.

Oklahoma defensive back Robert Spears-Jennings (3) celebrates with Jacobe Johnson / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Slowly but surely, Oklahoma’s Jacobe Johnson is getting the hang of it all.

Special teams? No problem. Wide receiver? It’s coming along. Starting cornerback? Still making progress.

“It's been good. It's a grind, obviously,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Playing both sides of the ball is not easy, especially on this level, but I'm just keeping my head down and keep working and getting better every day.”

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound sophomore from Mustang, OK, is one of the best athletes on the OU roster. He became the first Sooner to get snaps on both offense and defense in the Red River Rivalry since Andre Woolfolk in 2003. If he were so inclined, he could step into Lloyd Noble Center and help out Porter Moser’s squad, although that endeavor would certainly detract from his continuing development on Brent Venables’ football team.

“Jacobe's been practicing really well,” Venables said recently. “And again, he's long, he's fast. He competes, makes a lot of plays in special teams and he's got great long speed. Elite-level long speed.”

Johnson has been an asset for an Oklahoma team that has struggled in its first year of SEC competition. The Sooners are 5-5 overall and 1-5 in conference play as they wrap up their second bye week and prepare to host No. 9-ranked Alabama next Saturday in Norman.

Johnson played both ways at Mustang and became renowned for his ability go deep and elevate to high-point the football for contested catches. But he was also a big, strong, fast lockdown defensive back.

During his junior year, Johnson logged more than 1,000 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns as a receiver and had 35 tackles and an interception as a DB. His senior season, he amassed more than 1,200 all-purpose yards and 19 total touchdowns on offense, and still contributed 39 tackles, one interception and a forced fumble on defense.

He also averaged 20.9 points per game in basketball. And he ran track.

Jim Harbaugh wanted him at Michigan. Matt Campbell wanted him at Iowa State. Gary Patterson wanted him at TCU. David Shaw wanted him at Stanford. Mike Gundy wanted him at Oklahoma State. Josh Heupel wanted him at Tennessee. Paul Chryst wanted him at Wisconsin. Nick Saban wanted him at Alabama. Brian Kelly wanted him at LSU. James Franklin wanted him at Penn State. And Lincoln Riley and Venables both wanted him at Oklahoma.

In April 2020, he became the youngest in-state skill position player ever to receive a scholarship offer from Oklahoma.

Johnson was an Under Armour All-American and a consensus 4-star prospect, ranked No. 46 nationally by ESPN, No. 69 by On3, No. 113 by 247 Sports and No. 226 by Rivals. ESPN rated him as the No. 2 athlete in the 2022 recruiting class, No. 1 in Oklahoma.

Johnson signed with OU to play cornerback, but earlier this season, with so many wideouts out for a prolonged period with injuries, Johnson was asked to help out at receiver.

That part has been slow going. He’s played just two games on offense, only four snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, and has yet to catch a pass.

“It took a little bit to come back to me, because it's been a minute,” …Johnson said. “Back in high school is … when I played receiver. So it took a little minute to get it back going, but it didn't take too long.”

Johnson said he’s been splitting time in both practice and in meetings to try to get up to speed at wideout while also making strides at corner. He’s gotten better and better at defense — so much so that he made his first career start against Maine and his second last week at Missouri.

“We just kind of — it'll be like certain periods I'll go back and forth here and there and just make sure it evens out, kind of. So yeah, we just try to switch it, move around period to period in practice.”

According to PFF, Johnson has played 311 total snaps this year. That includes 170 as a defensive back and 137 on special teams. In his 10 games so far this season, he’s made 13 tackles, and his PFF grades — 49.8 overall on defense, which is regarded as low (it was 78.3 last year) — have ranged from 37.7 (Houston) to 46.9 (Missouri) to 61.4 (Tennessee) to 64.3 (Ole Miss) to 73.0 (Houston).

“I feel like I've played pretty good,” Johnson said. “I feel like I've left some out there, which, that's the normal. But I'm obviously just gonna keep getting better, working.”

“Obviously he’s gotten the majority of his snaps since he’s been here on defense. And so that’ll continue to be the case,” Venables said. “But (will) try to continue to get him involved as an additional receiver, a weapon. And hopefully that’ll happen sooner rather than later when it comes to creating some explosive opportunities for him, getting the ball to touch his hands.”

Johnson’s services as a receiver aren’t necessarily as urgent as they were three weeks ago. Jalil Farooq has returned from his broken foot, and Deion Burks was back for the Missouri game from his “soft-tissue” injury that knocked him out five games — although Burks was evaluated for a concussion at Mizzou and his status isn’t known. So perhaps Johnson will continue to add to his workload on offense.

“He’s really had great focus,” Venables said. “Moreso even in the past with an enhanced role. The demands that that takes, the details and the investment on his part, requires that. And he’s completely bought-in on doing that.” 

Maybe the two-way experiment will continue for Johnson. Maybe it’ll even become permanent. Johnson said he doesn’t really prefer one over the other — but it does sound like he has a preference.

“Hopefully I don't have to make a decision here soon about which one,” he said. “But I really just like both of 'em to be honest with you.

“Yeah, I would like to stay a two-way player. It'd be nice, because it's just, once again, it's just nice to have.”