Nico Johnson, the 6-foot-2, 235-pound five-star linebacker from Andalusia High School in Ala., finished his junior season with 80 tackles, one blocked field goal and one fumble recovery.
"I missed three games (knee and ankle injury) or I would have had a lot more," Johnson said. "I try to play aggressive and use my hands well. I run hard and give it my all. Defense is all about effort and I definitely give my best effort."
"I want to do everything better," said Scout.com's No. 2 middle linebacker. "I want to get my hands even better and I'd like to take on blockers better and get faster."
He benches 320-pounds, cleans 280 and squats 645. Johnson also runs a 4.6 forty and has an impressive 37-inch vertical jump.
Although Johnson already has 17 scholarship offers (including every SEC school), he says he hasn't narrowed down his list yet.
"I haven't even started narrowing things down," he said. "I'd like to wait until signing day to decide unless the pressure gets to be too much. I just want to take my time, but I know that I really need to start thinking about recruiting a little bit more."
He hasn't scheduled any official visits yet but plans to take all five. "I'll try and set up some visits early in the season," he said.
"I want to make sure the school has a good criminal justice program," he said. "For football, I'd like to play for a great team where I can play as a true freshman," he said. "That's big for me."
Johnson says he followed both Alabama and Auburn as a youngster and says he never picked a side in their rivalry. "I like them both," he said. "When they play I just want to watch a good game and it usually is."
Johnson attended the Alabama camp (approximately four hours from home). "They have a lot of tradition and I grew up on them," he said. "I've always liked Alabama a lot and I've always loved their defense.
"I like how the defense at 'Bama plays lights out regardless if they are up by 50 or down by 50," he said. "They never stop."
Johnson says he's also quite impressed with new Alabama head coach Nick Saban. "Coach Saban is changing it around over there and he's doing a good job," he said. "I like how he wants to get Alabama back to where they used to be."
Johnson will be attending the Alabama/Clemson game on Aug. 30 in Atlanta, Georgia.
The only other school that he's already visited is Auburn, which is only three hours away. "Auburn has a real good defense too," Johnson said. "I've always really liked Auburn and I guess recently they've had a lot more success than Alabama. I'll definitely try and go to as many Auburn games as I can this year."
One of the non-SEC schools that has offered Johnson is USC and he admits the Trojan offer came as quite a shock. "I was real surprised that they offered," he said.
"I really don't know much about USC besides what I see on TV," Johnson admitted. "I like the high expectations they have and how every year they are playing for the national championship.
"I've never been out there and I definitely want to check them out. It's an honor to be even offered by them," he said.
Johnson admits that at the beginning of his high school career, playing Div. 1 football was the last thing on his mind. "After my freshman year I was just thinking about graduating and going into the military," he said.
"It wasn't until after my sophomore season that things started getting serious," he said. "I was the main leader on defense for our team as a sophomore and people started talking about me playing college ball. Even then I really only figured I'd get an offer from Alabama or some in-state programs."
Having offers from the entire SEC wildly surpassed Johnson's expectations. "You really can't beat the SEC," he said. "You can never tell which team is going to win it all. Every team is great.
"LSU won the national championship and I'd definitely like to go see a game there and check them out," he said.
Johnson says he may also try and visit Florida, but says that nothing is set yet.
He had hoped to check out more schools during the summer but wasn't able to. "My mom is a diabetic and she was pretty sick," he said. "I had to stay around and make sure things were okay. That's why I'm just gonna have to see as many schools as I can during the season."
Johnson also plays center and forward on his high school basketball team. He averages 22 points per game, but only plans on playing football in college.
He reports a 2.8 core GPA and a 22 ACT.