Michigan Football: Wolverines gaining with 4-star TE Theo Johnson

Michigan football is hoping to land Theo Johnson, one of the top tight ends in the 2020 recruiting class and lately, UM seems to be gaining ground.

The Michigan football team has put in a lot of work both on the field and in recruiting recently and one of the Wolverines top targets for 2020 was just around for part of spring workouts.

That target is four-star tight end Theo Johnson, who is the top player from Ontario, Canada and is ranked among the 250 best players overall according to the 247 sports composite rankings, which has him 240th nationally, as well as 5th among tight ends.

The 247 rankings have him ranked even a little higher and list Johnson as the No. 3 tight end in 2020, which makes him a hot prospect. That means Michigan football is competing with teams such as Penn State, Georgia, Iowa, LSU and Arkansas among others for his services.

At 6-foot-5, 235-pounds, Johnson is a matchup nightmare for defenses and Michigan tight ends coach Sherrone Moore has sold him on the role he could play within Josh Gattis offense and recently, Johnson spoke about some of his impressions with Wolverines Wire.

"“I got a better feel of the culture and how I fit in with the tight ends room and the rest of the team. They did a whole lot of 12 personnel, so it’s good to see that what coach Moore has been saying to me is actually holding up.”"

If you aren’t familiar with the term, 12 personnel means one back and two tight ends, which is significant, because when you think of Gattis, you think of more spread sets.

Now that doesn’t mean that the two tight ends can’t be in a spread formation. If you are talking about Nick Eubanks and Sean McKeon, they could be in-line or in the slot. That’s what is exciting about that type of system and why Johnson would be an ideal fit.

Johnson’s athleticism jumps out at you when you watch his highlights and truthfully, he looks like he could be a wide receiver just as easily as a tight end.

Plus, when you watch how he was used in high school, it reminds me a lot of how Gattis used Irv Smith Jr. at Alabama last season, where Gatts was co-offensive coordinator.

All of those things should give Michigan football a better chance of landing Johnson, who has all three of his crystal ball predictions sending him to Penn State. Johnson indicated to Wolverines Wire that Michigan is rising and he noted it’s starting to feel more like family to him, which seems like a good thing.

Right now, there is a long way to go and Michigan feels like it needs to make up ground. But so far at least, with the work being done by Moore and Gattis, it seems like the Wolverines are doing exactly that.

What remains to be seen is whether or not Michigan is making up enough ground with Johnson to get him to commit. In the long run, that is what really matters and ultimately, it would be a killer to watch someone as talented as Johnson wind up in Happy Valley.