Film Room: How Jordan Johnson Fits In The Notre Dame Offense

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Recruiting at the wide receiver has been a strength for Notre Dame in recent seasons, but we have seen an uptick since DelVaughn Alexander and Chip Long arrived following the 2016 season.

When talking about the 2020 class there has been little doubt that Notre Dame needed another strong year at the position. At least three wideouts was key, and the more talent the better.

Landing players with high star rankings is always fun for discussion, and landing three talented players – which Notre Dame has now done – is great on paper. But what truly matters is how well do those talented players fit into the offense, and how well do they fit together.

Over the next week I am going to break down each of the three wide receiver commits and show whether or not they fit well in the Notre Dame offense. Let’s begin with St. Louis (Mo.) DeSmet five-star wide receiver Jordan Johnson. Not only is he the best receiver in the class, he was the first wideout to commit to Notre Dame in the 2020 class.

In a perfect situation, any wide receiver that Notre Dame lands will bring positional flexibility into the offense, and that is true for Johnson and the other commits in the 2020 receiver class.

For Johnson, he could easily play all three spots in the Irish offense, but the position where I believe he best fits is the W position, which is the boundary spot for Notre Dame.

The W is the boundary receiver spot that was manned by Miles Boykin last season and Equanimeous St. Brown in 2017. The W doesn’t always line up in the boundary, but that is the base look. At times the W will line up in the slot when the offense goes to a two tight end alignment with both receivers on the same side of the field.

Johnson is 6-2 and doesn’t have the same length that Boykin (6-4) and St. Brown (6-5) brought to the position. He possesses good arm length, and he has plenty of length for the position. Length is not, however, the primary attribute needed for the position, but it certainly helps accomplish the things discussed below.

Below are areas where a W must thrive, and they are areas where Johnson thrives, which is why he fits so well into this position.

With the W receiver working so much into the boundary – or short side of the field – he will often have less room to work with on any vertical or out breaking routes. That means he must be an effective route runner, must be good at finding open spots against the zone and also have enough length to make plays on high balls that are required to get over the top of any underneath zone defenders.

Here’s an example of Boykin hauling in an out throw.