Southern hospitality wows Johnson

Punter Blake Johnson.

Southern hospitality was one of several factors that helped punter Blake Johnson decide to commit to Arkansas Saturday night.

“I’m from California, I can tell you one thing, the people are a whole lot nicer here,” Johnson said. “My family, we met this couple and they were nothing but nice to us. They told us great places to eat. They were really nice and how exited they were to have us out here. Totally out of the ordinary from California.”

Johnson, 6-1, 190, of Los Alamitos, Calif., chose the Razorbacks over scholarship offers from Oregon State, Duke and Colorado along with interest from LSU, Texas, Tennessee and others. He and his family was surprised by what they saw in Fayetteville.

"Living kinda in that LA bubble, you really don’t think is much going on,” Johnson said. “Arkansas was such a beautiful area, had all of the hills, nice town and beautiful campus really made Arkansas a special place to be.”

Johnson, who’s rated the No. 1 punter in the nation by Chris Sailer Kicking, previously visited Texas, Tennessee and Duke before making his way to Arkansas. He said Arkansas’ weight room stood out and was the best he’s seen.

“I’m crazy about weights and lifting,” Johnson said. “When I saw that weight room. I just wanted to go lift to be honest with you.”

Sunday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Johnson said Coach Bret Bielema, defensive line and specialists coach Rory Segrest and special teams quality control coach Tanner Burns were key in his decision.

Burns, the son of former Arkansas safety and defensive coordinator Keith Burns, was instrumental in getting Johnson to visit.

“I had been talking to Tanner Burns quite a bit over Twitter ,” Johnson said. “I heard a lot of good things about it. It’s in the SEC. I remember all of the great teams not too long ago so I knew they were going to be on the rise again. I just told myself this is a great opportunity and I started looking up the school and I just got really excited about it.”

His family was also thrilled about his decision.

“My whole family absolutely loved Arkansas, so they were ecstatic about my decision,” he said.