Today, LSU released its spring roster and there was one noticeable change to the roster. After originally signing as a defensive back coming out of high school at Lafayette Christian Academy and switching to running back his freshman year, Ju’Juan Johnson is now making the move to quarterback.
Still listed at number eight, LSU’s do it all athlete goes back to quarterback where he excelled and was a high school football legend for Lafayette Christian Academy.
The former Mr. Football set numerous amount of Louisiana high school football records with 14,451 total yards and 171 total touchdowns beating two other Louisiana prep legends Nick Brossette for touchdowns and Brock Berlin for total yards of offense. He also led the Knights to four straight state championship appearances including a state record 595 yards and five touchdowns in a loss to St. Thomas More.
As a senior, Johnson passed for 3,597 yards and 43 touchdowns while rushing for 1,484 yards and 25 touchdowns. That followed a junior campaign in which he accounted for 5,487 yards of total offense and 60 touchdowns.
The gaudy numbers that the dual threat LCA quarterback showed was a part of the reason why he is making the switch back to offense, but the overall quarterback scholarship numbers makes sense for the dynamic signal caller. Right now, Garrett Nussmeier, Mississippi State transfer Michael Van Buren, and Colin Hurley are the three scholarship quarterbacks.
This news also comes around the uncertainty of Collin Hurley as the redshirt quarterback continues to recover from injuries sustained in a car accident that occurred last month. A week ago, LSU head coach Brian Kelly said that he hopes Hurley will return to campus, but there is no official timetable for his return.
This will of course not be the first time that Johnson has moved positions as he even caught a touchdown pass against Nicholls State earlier this past season.
Ju’Juan Johnson’s position move has not been addressed yet officially by the LSU coach, but his proven track record and versatility certainly gives the Tigers coaching staff a lot of confidence.
“He was going to play on all of our special teams and it was important that we got him involved on one side or the other whether it was defense or offense. With the way we were playing our defensive structure, we knew we weren’t going to get him a lot of playing time there. On offense, we knew that there were enough roles to get him involved. He is going to play some running back, slot receiver, and do a lot of things. We can craft an offensive structure around him, and what we found out is that he picks up things really well. It was a decision that he can come in as a freshman, be involved in our special teams, and he was able to pick things up really quickly.”
LSU HC Brian Kelly on when he moved Ju’Juan Johnson from defense to offense
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