6’2 208 LBS Hometown: Bryan, Tx Projected Rd: 3-4

Grade: 5.25

Grading Scale

SPARQ: 134.1 (#6 CB)

Combine Results

Strengths

Speed

Length

Good tackler

Covers deep routes well

Jabs Wr’s at the line

Weaknesses

Extremely raw (converted WR)

Backpedal needs a lot of work

Footwork isn’t crisp

Gives up the underneath often

Was picked on in some games

Overview

Isaiah Johnson played his first two years as a WR for Houston, and has only been playing CB for his junior and senior years. You can see the lack of experience in his film. As a former WR you would like to see better ball skills, he had 4 career INT’s but he was targeted a lot and could of had more.

His back pedal is a work in progress and you can see he doesn’t trust it and so often runs sideways with the receiver instead which means if he cuts inside he will have to turn his body, something Johnson also needs to work on as his footwork and hips are still not fluid. In zone, you can notice he is processing things instead of just playing naturally, and that comes with learning a new position as such a high level. On a positive note, later in the season his zone coverage ability looked better and he did look more fluid and crisp moving around in it.

Johnson will use his length to jab receivers at the line, but he doesn’t put enough power behind it. When he does, it usually works and turns into a successful coverage snap in press, but he doesn’t often. This may be due to him not trusting his backpedal so if the receiver does get past his bump he thinks he will get burned. Regardless, he is actually pretty good already at defending deep routes, mostly streaks, as he has the speed to keep up with any receiver and the length to disrupt the pass or distract the receiver.

Isaiah Johnson is a raw project player, with a lot to work on before he makes any impact or even gets much playing time. His size and traits are a good fit for Guenther, and as an athletic guy with potential, getting him in the 4th was OK by me, especially since this is the type of player we would take in the 2nd in the past. Regardless, it will be an uphill battle for him to be a starter even in the future, but I do see him at least having a long career as a backup, though i’m not 100% confident he will ever be a very good one.

Game By Game Breakdown

Vs. Rice

Stats: 2 Solo, 6 Assists, 8 Total Tackles, 0 Def, 0 INT, Targets: 6 , Catches Allowed: 4 , Yards Allowed: 111, TDs Allowed: 1, PI’s: 1

Game Notes: (0:19) Lined up at nickle. (0:57) Nice man coverage on outside, defended streak route. (1:45) Not sure but im pretty sure he blew his coverage here and that was his man. He tripped, and after recovering went to cover another receiver. Went for a TD. (1:55) You can see his footwork needs work here. (3:01) Closing speed did not look to good, acceleration/burst was slow. (4:50) Was good on his coverage man to man versus the streak route, but he turned the wrong shoulder and so the WR was able to make a catch on his outside shoulder on the sideline. As a former receiver would like to see better ball skills than that. That play brought it to the 1 yard line. Following play on the 1 (5:00) Qb throws a lob up to the WR in the endzone and Johnson was way to aggressive and committed a PI. Nice tackle (5:22). (5:30) Nice man to man rep. (6:00) Lined up at safety, running down. Next play (6:06) Lined up at safety again but its another run down. (6:13) Was with his man step for step but did not turn his head early enough which allowed the WR to make an easy catch for 33 yards. (6:30) Targeted on a curl route, was playing close enough but his closing speed did not look good and WR should of had it but dropped it. (7:37) Playing safety again and this time in cover 3, his backpedal looked good and he closed in on the ball thrown into his zone fast which forced the incompletion. This is interesting because at his size he can move to safety and may be better suited for it. (7:46) Gives up another catch in man to man on streak route and it was again due to him not turning his head and just watching the WR, not making a play on the ball. Went for 35 yards.

Overview: Was picked on throughout the game. Definitely looked raw. His backpedal and footwork is pretty choppy at times and you can tell he didn’t trust himself to be able to change direction super fast on a lot of plays. Played a mix of both man to man and zone and his man was surely better. In zone you can tell he’s processing things slowly and because of that plays slower on those plays. Like how he uses his length and jabs receivers at the line. His ball skills are also not as good as you want them to be as a former WR, but this is week 1 and its his 2nd year playing CB. Two of his big catches given up were due to turning to the wrong shoulder. This video was over 9 minutes long and it was due to him being targeted a lot, all of Trayvon Mullen’s videos were short, usually around 5 and that is because he was not targeted much.

Grade: F

Vs. Arizona

Stats: 6 Solo, 1 Assist, 7 Total Tackles, 1 Def, 0 INT, Targets: 5 , Catches Allowed: 3 , Yards Allowed: 40, TD’s Allowed: 0 , PI’s: 0

Game Notes: Another 9 plus minute video which leads me to believe he may of been targeted a lot once again, well see whether or not he was picked on due to it though. (1:21) Nice man to man rep, QB looked his way but didn’t throw it. (2:32) Played way off WR in zone but his closing speed looked good when the QB threw it away. (3:07) Playing off man about 10 yards deep which is confusing since Arizona is backed up in their own five, and that cushion gave up the underneath for a curl route that went for 12 yards. (3:45) His length saved him on this play as his man had him beat but he got the deflection anyway. (4:12) Sloppy in coverage. (4:20) gave up the catch but actually made a pretty nice play on the ball, WR made a nice concentration catch to pull it in with Johnsons long arms right in the way. Johnson was behind a bit. (5:21) Playing way off by design but should of came up when he saw it was a screen. (5:34) Unable to disengage from block of WR. (6:36) Notice he turns and run side ways instead of backpedaling, giving his WR the inside, he does this too often. (7:26) Gave up the underneath, WR gets 9 yards on the curl route. Johnson did make a nice hard hit though. (8:33) Notice Johnson come flying into the screen as he makes TD saving tackle. Houston ended up forcing them 4 and out on the 1 so that was a big play.

Overview: This game was better than last but showed many of the same problems. In this game he mostly was giving up the underneath too often instead of big plays and his ball skills looked a lot better as well getting a couple deflections.

Grade: C+

Vs. Tulsa

Stats: 2 Solo, 1 Assist, 3 Total Tackles, 1 Def, 0 INT, Targets: 3 , Catches allowed: 1 , Yards allowed: 9, TD’s Allowed: 0, PI’s: 0

Game Notes: (0:38) Press man coverage forced the incompletion on a streak route. I’m still not sure if the way he runs backwards instead of backpedaling is due to coaching or if he doesn’t have a polished enough backpedal. (1:05) Looked good in zone on this play. (1:49) Left his man wide open on a crossing route due to giving up the inside way too much, wasn’t targeted here though. (3:27) These jabs at the line could use a lot more power behind them, especially with his length and size he should be taking advantage of. (3:36) Good coverage in zone, didn’t look very fluid though. (3:59) Maybe the best rep of his i’ve seen so far in all games. Usually gives up the underneath especially on curls but this is the one time he didn’t. His closing speed looked good as did his backpedal which looked fluid and crisp, and he made a play on the ball. (6:27) Again looks real good in zone here. (6:40) Shows off his speed coming blitzing off the edge and batting down the throw. (7:07) Gave up way too much cushion on the underneath, caught in his zone for 9 yards.

Overview: Better than his previous two games. His zone coverage looked better, and he was not tested by the QB much.

Grade: B-