Arizona State trending for 4-star CB Chris Johnson

After a bit of back and forth in the month of June in the recruitment of Aledo (Texas) four-star cornerback Chris Johnson, Arizona State is the new leader according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine.

The Sun Devils took the lead with a 94.8% chance to land Johnson’s pledge after a pick was entered by ScoopDuck’s Justin Hopkins. Arkansas and Oregon trail Arizona State at 2.2% and 1.9% chances, respectively.

Johnson announced a top six of Oregon, Utah, Louisville, SMU, Arkansas and Arizona State in late-May. He’s set to make his decision on July 4.

“I definitely like Arizona State,” Johnson told Embody earlier in the month. “Coach BC (Bryan Carrington), I’ve created a great relationship with him. Arkansas is really cool. Coach (Deron) Wilson, coach (Marcus) Woodson, I have a good relationship with them. I’ve been talking to Oregon a lot. Louisville is always going to be in the running because it’s my dad’s alma mater, so that’s really cool.”

Oregon initially led for Johnson’s recruitment, according to the RPM, just ahead of his official visit to Eugene last week. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound cornerback also took official visits to Arizona State and Arkansas earlier this month.

Johnson is a four-star prospect ranked No. 384 in the On3 Industry Ranking and No. 42 among cornerbacks. Per the 2024 On300, he is the No. 285 overall prospect and No. 31 cornerback.

Other offers for Johnson include Louisville, SMU, Duke, Boston College and Utah. 

Johnson currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $37K. The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets high school and college athletes’ projected annual value (PAV). The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

Kenny Dillingham working on first full class

The Sun Devils currently have 12 commitments in the 2024 cycle and sit outside of the top 50 in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings.

If Johnson were to commit, he would join a pair of already-committed defensive backs in Dickinson (Texas) cornerback Rodney Bimage and Lewisville (Texas) cornerback Tony-Louis Nkuba.

This is the first full recruiting cycle for new Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham. The Sun Devils finished last season’s cycle ranked No. 49 in the 2023 On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings.