Louisville football: What grad transfer Roscoe Johnson means for Cards

Louisville football lands grad transfer wide receiver.

Two weekend days meant two more commits for Scott Satterfield and Louisville football.

On Sunday the Cardinals landed their top tight end target Christian Pederson in the class of 2021 while also securing a commitment from a graduate transfer wide receiver.

North Carolina fifth-year senior Roscoe Johnson will play his final season in red and black, joining a prolific wide receiving core full of talented depth.

The 6’2,” 190-pound outside receiver from Jonesville, South Carolina was a three-star out of high school and chose the Tar Heels of App State and Charleston Southern. His lead recruiter was current Louisville wide receivers coach Gunter Brewer.

Since arriving in North Carolina, his career has been a bit understated. Playing in 30 career games, including one start, Johnson totaled 14 receptions for 157 yards (no touchdowns), boasting an average of 11.2 yards per catch. While being recruited to play offense, here he really thrived at UNC was on special teams appearing in nine games last season for the Tar Heels, without notching any statistics.

While those stats don’t really paint the picture of an “impact player,” we’ve seen how important players who have familiarity with the staff can be on the roster.

There’s something to be said about the impact had on by certain players in places that fans don’t get to see. The meeting rooms, on the practice field, in study hall, and in other situations it’s important to have “player coaches” and guys who can provide more than just solid play on the field. They can provide unwavering leadership and mentorship to a roster of younger players as well as a voice that echo’s the coaches that other teammates may be willing to listen to.

I don’t know much about Johnson, but his stats would lead me to believe that he was a guy who always brought more to the table than just talent for Brewer at UNC. We saw the same thing last season with another former UNC graduate transfer, Thomas Jackson, who transferred to Louisville with very little statistical impact but was a leader on and off the field.

Louisville needed to make a move at receiver after the tragic death of incoming freshman Dexter Rentz earlier this summer and considering that Josh Johnson is still recovering from injury while others behind Tutu Atwell and Dez Fitzpatrick are mostly unproven.

Much of the production this season will come from Atwell and Fitzpatrick, who return after big seasons in 2019, but they’ll need everyone to step up and help elevate the passing game. Of course, players like Justin Marshall, Johnson, Tyler Harrell were on the roster last season and have experience in Satterfield’s offense, and being coached by Gunter Brewer. And even players like Christian Fitzpatrick and Braden Smith, who were apart of the 2020 class but enrolled early and went through an abbreviated spring practice, have some familiarity. However there will be others like Jordan Watkins, Nick Malito, and even Corey Reed who will need extra help picking up on the offense.

Johnson will be an extension of Brewer who is familiar with what he wants and expects and can help translate that to the younger and less experienced guys in real time, something that should prove to be extremely helpful in big games.

Johnson will have one year of eligibility after spending four seasons at UNC and will eligible immediately whenever the 2020 season should begin for the Cards. The receiver is a position filled with talent, check out the projected depth chart here.