3-star LB Trevell Johnson signs with Texas

The Texas Longhorns staff are becoming regulars at Arlington Martin high school, signing linebacker Morice Blackwell a year ago and landing a signature from three-star linebacker Trevell Johnson on Wednesday during the early signing period.

Johnson committed to the Longhorns back in February and even though he took an additional official visit to Texas Tech, he never backed off his pledge to Texas. Unfortunately for Johnson, he had to miss his senior season due to injury, so we were not able to see him continue to build off of what was a very productive junior season.

Here is how BON’s Cody Daniel views Johnson’s fit within the class:

At 6’1 and 200 pounds, Johnson looks the part of a safety on film, though he’ll almost certainly build upon that before he ultimately arrives in Austin. In any case, Johnson being a bit undersized at linebacker doesn’t prevent him from excelling as a dominant force. He’s a forceful striker and plays with an aggressive nature, especially going downhill, which has helped him amass 208 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, and five sacks throughout the past two seasons. Simply put, Johnson just has a knack for finding the ball and attacking, and though that’s certainly a strength of his, he also displays the ability to be patient at times and allow a play to develop before breaking free from a black to get involved on a play.

Johnson’s film doesn’t provide much evidence of his ability in pass coverage, and he can afford to improve his lateral quickness a bit and simply reacting, but with more than a year and a half before his first game as a Longhorn, he’ll have plenty of time to develop physically.

It’s quite possible that Johnson ultimately fills the role of a hybrid linebacker like DeMarvion Overshown.

Johnson held eighteen offers, but ultimately chose the Longhorns over the likes of Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, and Ole Miss.

As things sit currently, Johnson is the only linebacker commit for the Longhorns in this recruiting class, but it seems pretty likely that the Texas staff will continue to pursue guys like Montgomery (Ala.) Montgomery Catholic linebacker TJ Dudley, who signs in February. The expectation is that the staff will also continue looking for additions in the transfer portal.

A consensus three-star prospect, Johnson is ranked as the No. 552 prospect and the No. 53 linebacker, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.