Georgia Tech incoming freshman Jalen Johnson hasn’t played in a football game since 2012. He is understandably eager to start up again.
Johnson, a safety from Oneonta, Ala., said he is “pretty much cleared” after tearing the ACL in his right knee prior to his senior season. Johnson said he can run and cut. He ran track in the spring, running a leg on his high school’s 4x400-meter relay team in May that finished third in the state in Class 4A.
“It feels good,” Johnson said. “I think it’s about 100 percent now. I feel good on it.”
Johnson and the bulk of the 2014 signing class will report to Tech Tuesday morning to begin summer orientation. They’ll take classes, join in the team’s summer workout program and prepare to begin preseason practice at the end of July.
At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Johnson has good size for a defensive back and will begin at safety, he said, where he’ll be behind starters Isaiah Johnson and Jamal Golden and backups Corey Griffin and John Marvin, both redshirt freshmen. Johnson’s chances for playing time should be helped by the fact that the 4-2-5 alignment that Tech will use as its base defense often will use three safeties.
Johnson is one of three signees from the state of Alabama, along with early-enrollee quarterback Matthew Jordan (Jackson) and defensive end Tyler Merriweather (Demopolis).
The second in a series of updates on Tech’s signees.
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