by Bill Seals
Iowa State has certainly spent a lot of time at Cincinnati’s Colerain High School during Matt Campbell’s time as head coach, but the staff hasn’t neglected the other programs in the city as evidenced by a recent offer to a Class of 2018 wide receiver.
Summit Country Day junior Xavier Johnson picked up his first Power-5 offer of the recruiting process from Iowa State.
“Coach (Bryan) Gasser was at school talking to my coach and my coach called me out of class,” said Johnson. “It was kind of a face to face offer. I’m really happy about getting my first Big 12 offer. Coach Gasser had actually offered me while he was at Toledo. He said the thing that really made him like me at Iowa State was that I had gotten better since then. They could tell I was still improving.”
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Johnson, who also has offers from Cincinnati and Toledo, was told by Gasser that he had become more of a long-yardage threat since earlier in his prep career.
“Coach Gasser said he really likes my big play ability and some of the plays that I make were big plays,” Johnson said. “He talked a lot about those.”
In addition to Gasser, Johnson said he also has relationships with all of the coaches currently on the I-State staff that came over from Toledo, which gives him some comfort in getting his first offer from a school outside the state of Ohio.
“I really like the coaching staff,” Johnson said. “I went to a camp at Toledo back in my freshman year and they seemed like good guys. I really like that aspect. I think Iowa State would be a pretty cool school to attend. Iowa State is definitely in the mix of schools that I am really evaluating. I’m going to take some time to evaluate the school to see how much I like it.”
Johnson hopes to reconnect with Gasser and those coaches at an unofficial visit in the coming months.
“They gave me a pamphlet with all the basketball games,” he said. “I’m just trying to pick out a game that I can make it out to that works for everyone.”
In addition to his three offer schools, Johnson said he’s hearing from Northwestern.
Iowa State has certainly spent a lot of time at Cincinnati’s Colerain High School during Matt Campbell’s time as head coach, but the staff hasn’t neglected the other programs in the city as evidenced by a recent offer to a Class of 2018 wide receiver.
Summit Country Day junior Xavier Johnson picked up his first Power-5 offer of the recruiting process from Iowa State.
“Coach (Bryan) Gasser was at school talking to my coach and my coach called me out of class,” said Johnson. “It was kind of a face to face offer. I’m really happy about getting my first Big 12 offer. Coach Gasser had actually offered me while he was at Toledo. He said the thing that really made him like me at Iowa State was that I had gotten better since then. They could tell I was still improving.”
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Johnson, who also has offers from Cincinnati and Toledo, was told by Gasser that he had become more of a long-yardage threat since earlier in his prep career.
“Coach Gasser said he really likes my big play ability and some of the plays that I make were big plays,” Johnson said. “He talked a lot about those.”
In addition to Gasser, Johnson said he also has relationships with all of the coaches currently on the I-State staff that came over from Toledo, which gives him some comfort in getting his first offer from a school outside the state of Ohio.
“I really like the coaching staff,” Johnson said. “I went to a camp at Toledo back in my freshman year and they seemed like good guys. I really like that aspect. I think Iowa State would be a pretty cool school to attend. Iowa State is definitely in the mix of schools that I am really evaluating. I’m going to take some time to evaluate the school to see how much I like it.”
Johnson hopes to reconnect with Gasser and those coaches at an unofficial visit in the coming months.
“They gave me a pamphlet with all the basketball games,” he said. “I’m just trying to pick out a game that I can make it out to that works for everyone.”
In addition to his three offer schools, Johnson said he’s hearing from Northwestern.
