‘Exciting’ junior-college football recruit commits to play for Kentucky

Three-star defensive back Lonnie Johnson announced his commitment to Kentucky on Tuesday, giving the Wildcats one of the top junior-college players in the country and their second high-profile commitment of the day.

Johnson — a 6-foot-3, 205-pound prospect from Gary, Ind. — chose UK over fellow finalists Georgia and West Virginia. He took his official visit to Lexington two weekends ago, then picked up a scholarship offer from Georgia and took an official visit to Athens this past weekend. Still, the Wildcats were able to hold off their conference rivals for Johnson’s commitment.

247Sports pegs him as the No. 2 safety and No. 43 overall player in the junior-college ranks for the class of 2017. He’s expected to play cornerback at UK.

“He brings great length and athleticism to the secondary,” 247Sports national analyst Steve Wiltfong told the Herald-Leader. “We have him ranked as a safety, but he can play corner. So you got a guy who can play some nickel, play corner, play safety, can blitz ’em. He’s got some serious traits. A big, long kid who can run.

“He’s an exciting guy — really one of the better juco guys out there.”

Johnson signed with Iowa State earlier this year, but didn’t qualify academically and re-enrolled at Garden City Community College (Kan.), where he had five interceptions in 11 games in 2015. Johnson is scheduled to graduate from Garden City this month, enroll early at UK in January and join the Wildcats for spring practice.

He will have two years to play two seasons at UK, starting in 2017.

Johnson is UK’s 19^th commitment for the class of 2017, and its second of the day, joining four-star defensive end Joshua Paschal, who committed to the Cats on Tuesday morning. UK’s class is now No. 25 nationally, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

Kentucky already had commitments from defensive backs Tyrell Ajian, Cedrick Dort and Michael Nesbitt. The Cats are also targeting four-star athlete Lynn Bowden — a possible defensive back at the college level — and four-star cornerback Yusuf Corker, who took an official visit to Kentucky this past weekend.

UK will also return several talented players in the secondary from this season’s team, including sophomore starters Derrick Baity, Mike Edwards and Chris Westry.

This story was originally published December 13, 2016 at 6:41 PM with the headline "‘Exciting’ junior-college football recruit commits to play for Kentucky."