Richlands rising junior defensive end Devon Johnson has a verbal offer from Virginia, but because of a recent rule passed by the NCAA he will have to wait a while before he sees that offer in writing.
UVa Media Relations
Mike London and UVa lead for 2012 linebacker Devon Johnson.
Regardless, the Cavaliers have made their interest clear and now UVa is sitting at the top of Johnson's list.
The 6-foot-2, 209-pound outside linebacker had quite the sophomore season for Richlands a year ago. He was responsible for 36 tackles, four of which were for losses, and six sacks.
But most of Johnson's work came on the other side of the ball, where he rushed for more than 1,100 yards. It's tough to put up those kind of numbers across the board as just a sophomore, so you can expect he will become more well-known across the state over the next couple of years beginning in the next month as his junior season starts.
Virginia is the only school that has verbally offered Johnson a scholarship, but it certainly isn't the only school that's showing interest.
"I visited Marshall this summer," Johnson recalled. "It went good. I went up there (to a camp) and did their drills and stuff. I hurt my hamstring a little bit."
That hamstring injury, though relatively minor, would linger for a little while and prevented him from participating at UVa's camp. It's not as though he had to prove anything to a Virginia coaching staff that was already sold on him but it was disappointing nonetheless.
"I was gonna go up to UVa and do their camp but that pulled hamstring made it so I couldn't go up there," he noted.
"They (verbally) offered me a while back. I can't remember exactly when it was but it was probably a couple of months ago. I found out through my coach. They told him that I hit good and they like how I've put on weight real fast."
Though Johnson's profile on Rivals.com lists his 40-yard dash time as 4.68 seconds, he told CavsCorner that he has been clocked at 4.53 seconds, which would be quite impressive.
It's still very early in the recruiting process and Johnson isn't totally sure which schools will be pursuing him yet. But for now he has a pretty good idea about who is at the top of his list.
"I've got to say that UVa's my favorite," he said. "They're number one on my list. A lot of people have been telling me stuff about them. It's a good school. It's a hard school academically and I like that."
Beyond that Johnson said he is also hoping to hear more from West Virginia.
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