Four-star center Baveon Johnson committed to Florida State back in March, and never looked back. He was ranked the 42nd best player in the nation as well as the number one center by 24/7 sports. The 6'3 330 pound commit turned down offers from Indiana, Arizona, Wisconsin, Miami, Maryland and Alabama to play football in Tallahassee. Coming from Lakeland (Fl.) Lake Gibson High School that finished 7-5 this past season, Johnson has been active in traveling to see Florida State and after being a member of the FSU summer camp in 2014 made four more visits including his official visit last weekend. Besides FSU, Johnson looked at Alabama officially and attended Miami (FL) junior day in 2015.
SB Nation national recruiting analyst Bud Elliot spoke with Johnson during the Under Armour All-American Game and spoke highly of FSU saying, "I'm looking forward to playing, wearing that Garnett and Gold...It's been my life dream." Johnson does have some experience with the atmosphere around FSU football coming into Tallahassee as his high school's war chant is the exact same as the one at Florida State and the school's colors are also garnet and gold. His twitter page is more evidence of his excitement of joining the Seminoles.
Bud Elliott: Johnson is 330 pounds, and Florida State wants him to come in at 315 pounds. Regardless, he's probably 340 pounds on his high school film and the way he moves is like watching a much smaller man. It's really impressive how quickly Johnson can get out and pull and turn the corner after snapping the ball. He has good lateral movement. And Johnson shows a natural ability to pick up second level defenders and not lunge at them. As he loses weight and gets in better shape he may be able to unlock the ability to roll his hips better into defenders to finish off blocks and roach them. Center is not a position that players typically can play as true freshman, and particularly not when they do not enroll, but Johnson has the talent to be a multi-year starter. He's also an incredibly nice kid and a great interview. He also has a Florida State tattoo on his arm, which was a great indication of where he wanted to go when analysts saw him at camps as a sophomore.