2014 QB lands first offer

St. Paul (Minn.) Cretin-Derham Hall sophomore quarterback Ricardo Johnson III has yet to start a varsity game in his high school career, but already the 6-2, 180-pound passer has a Division I scholarship offer.

"I just got an offer from the University of Hawaii," Johnson reported Monday night. "Coach Norm [Chow] saw my film and said I have the intangibles. My three-step drop, mechanics and my accuracy were so sound they wanted to jump out and give me an offer to get early recruiting going."

Although Johnson knew Hawaii was aware of him, he was not expecting the offer this early in the process and he is excited about the opportunity.

"Being from Minnesota we have pretty cold winters, so to be able to escape would be great," Johnson said. "I also think about Norm Chow and how he worked with Steve Young and Matt Leinart and all these great quarterbacks. Not only would I get a great education from Hawaii, which is my No. 1 priority, but I would also be able to develop myself as a quarterback."

Johnson has been receiving interest from a number of Division I programs, and last month took the initiative by visiting several in the state of Florida.

"About two weeks ago I went down to the University of Miami, Florida State, Florida Atlantic and Central Florida," Johnson said. "I was really impressed with all of the schools. Each school invited me down to their camp this summer so I could come down and show them my skills."

Johnson was impressed with different aspects of each of the schools he visited. At Miami, it was their success in developing talent.

"I really liked at Miami the tradition of NFL players that were there," Johnson said. "They produce NFL players every year."

Johnson definitely plans to return to Miami and Florida State for summer camps. He is also expecting to get out to Notre Dame, Michigan, Cal and Hawaii for camps in the summer.