James Johnson Is Coming On Strong

A quick canvas of stories about fall camp will bring up one name for all of them, true freshman wideout James Johnson.

A quick receiver from San Diego who rated as a three star recruit by Rivals, has really caught the attention of the coaches, as well as, the fans and media.

He was recruited by most of the Pac-10 schools and also by San Diego State and Utah, and Sarkisian praised the staff's ability to hold onto him and bring him to Seattle.

He was praised during signing day as probably one of the most marquee players out of a fairly mediocre class, granted the staff only had so long to put it together.

Sarkisian praised the young man for the speed with which he has caught onto the system and tried to make an impact.

Wide receivers coach Jimmie Dougherty claims he is unafraid of the challenge or the spotlight, and that "when the bullets were flying today, he really stepped up."

So far he has shown good bursts of speed and incredibly solid hands. He has shown a propensity for catching passes in the endzone.

Yesterday was the first day that I was able to get out to practice, and to be honest the defense had the offenses number all day long.

Locker threw several interceptions and the defense broke up a lot of passes either through some decent coverage or some hard hits.

However, the highlight of the day was Locker thrown up a little jump ball in the corner of the endzone and Johnson coming down with it one-handed in the endzone.

It brought everyone in the stadium to their feet.

Johnson finished the practice with a good amount of catches and three touchdowns on the day. It's hard to see him as merely a true freshman.

Sarkisian, in a post- practice interview, said that the evaluation period is long but "if we were playing a game Saturday, he would play, that's for sure."

Obviously guys like D'Andre Goodwin and Jermaine Kearse are being groomed as the starters, but Johnson is making a very strong case to challenge for that role as well.

Let's not forget as well that he is only in his first year, so there is plenty of time for him to develop.

It gets hard to say when so much needs work, but it will be a great development for the offense if the receiving corps takes that step up.