Juju Johnson seemed to be headed to Oklahoma in more than one way, but all of a sudden, he's not leaving his home state of California.
Johnson, a four-star 2027 cornerback, committed to in-state UCLA over the weekend despite having already set a decision date for June 27, after he would have finished up all of his visits, including to Norman. He had narrowed his options down recently to OU, Michigan, Miami, and in-state programs UCLA and Cal.
Juju Johnson abruptly commits to UCLA over Sooners
It was a rollercoaster to Johnson's commitment that had an abrupt stop right as it was supposed to peak. His schedule of official visits was just supposed to begin this month with a trip to Miami on May 29. He then had visits scheduled for Nebraska (June 5), OU (June 12), Cal (June 15) and UCLA (June 19) before when he was supposed to announce his decision on June 27. He was also in Oklahoma in March.
Instead, Johnson made his mind up early before anyone else got a final chance to impress, including the Sooners.
This was the second time Johnson set a commitment date that didn't matter. He was initially going to make a decision on Dec. 1 with a top 5 of OU, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon and Arizona State. A decision never came then, though, before being pushed until this summer, or at least we thought.
Through it all, though, the Sooners were not only in the mix, but the favorites to land Johnson. OU and Michigan were the only programs included in both of Johnson's groups of final choices. Many recruiting experts had also been predicting Johnson to choose the Sooners since December.
That made last weekend's announcement more of a blindside for the Sooners than anyone else because of timing and the ultimate decision.
According to the 247Sports Composite, Johnson is the No. 8 cornerback in the 2027 class and top-100 overall prospect at No. 71. Johnson, from Long Beach, is also the No. 7 player in the state of California, where the Sooners have been recruiting hard recently.
He also had other offers from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida State, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, USC, Utah and more.
Without the addition of Johnson, the Sooners' 2027 class includes two cornerbacks with four-star Mikhail McCreary and three-star Mikyal Davis.
Add us as a preferred source on Google