Texas Longhorns blue chip 2026 commit sees Miami beat Notre Dame, calls it ‘special’ and to ‘stay tuned’
Northwestern (Fla.) defensive lineman James Johnson was at Hard Rock Stadium Sunday to see the Miami Hurricanes defeat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Texas Longhorns verbal commit spoke with Rivals’ Chad Simmons after the clock hit zero.“This win for Miami was special,” Johnson told Rivals. “It always feels good to be at the U. […]
Northwestern (Fla.) defensive lineman James Johnson was at Hard Rock Stadium Sunday to see the Miami Hurricanes defeat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Texas Longhorns verbal commit spoke with Rivals’ Chad Simmons after the clock hit zero.
“This win for Miami was special,” Johnson told Rivals. “It always feels good to be at the U. Miami is always a vibe. It was great to be there for their win over Notre Dame.”
Johnson flipped to Texas from Georgia earlier in the year. But, he has been honest about wanting to check out other programs this fall. The Hurricanes seem to have his attention even more after its huge season-opening win.
Normally reserved for on-campus stadiums, James Johnson raved about the atmosphere Sunday.
“When Malachi Toney, also known as Baby Jesus, caught that deep ball, that was a big highlight,” Johnson said. “Then, when Ruben Bain came up with the pick, followed by CJ’s (Daniels) one-handed catch for the touchdown, the energy was unreal.
“Those plays stood out, then meeting Ray Lewis was definitely a highlight for me because I’ve always admired how he played during his NFL career.”
Johnson also revealed where things stand with his recruitment and current status as a Texas commit. Simmons asked him and Johnson point blank said “stay tuned”.
Orangebloods’ Jason Suchomel recently discussed the flip rumors around James Johnson.
“Johnson said Miami continues to push ‘really hard’ and he speaks to members of the Hurricane staff nearly every day,” Suchomel said. “Texas should get Johnson in Austin for at least one fall visit (we’ve got messages out to Johnson trying to confirm his visit schedule) so that should help, but this one feels like it could go back and forth all the way until signing day.”
This one is going to go down to the wire on national signing day, in my opinion. Mario Cristobal and his staff are not going to go away. But, Steve Sarkisian and his staff want to recruit South Florida and continue to land blue chips at premium positions.
Johnson is a hell of a way to start this trend but he will be tough to keep in this 2026 class with what the Hurricanes are doing. Cristobal and the Miami staff are going to do whatever it takes to keep the local product in-state.
Right now, I would lean on Miami getting this one done, but signing day is still months away so anything can happen between now and December.
