WR Comps: Tyron Johnson and a Former Clemson Tiger

Continuing on with my Oklahoma State wide receiver comparison series, I take a look at redshirt junior Tyron Johnson. If you missed my comparison for Tylan Wallace, the first in the wideout series, you can check it out here.

Tyron Johnson – 6-1, 193

Player Comparison: Sammy Watkins

For those who don’t already know, I’m a big fan of Tyron Johnson. My fandom stems from the fact that he’s an incredibly talented player and he’s also from my home state of Louisiana. In addition, he started his career at LSU, where both of my parents attended college, and he now plays at my alma mater.

That being said, it took me quite a while to land on a comp for TJ, as I wanted to make sure it was a good one. After taking wayyyyyy too much time to decide, I landed on Sammy Watkins.

There are several similarities I see between these two wideouts. First, they both have an incredibly fast first step and the deep speed to beat the defense over the top. Both of these guys possess the “big play” ability and do a solid job creating separation from their defender.

Additionally, Johnson and Watkins hare able to change directions with very minimal effort and without losing much speed. Both guys are extremely dangerous after the catch because they are tough to bring down in the open field with their high level elusiveness.

Both players also track the football very well and are able to adjust their bodies to make the catch. Also, having great hands doesn’t hurt either.

Johnson’s 40-yard dash time in high school was 4.52, which is a little slower than Watkins combine time of 4.43, but I guarantee Johnson has improved upon this during his college career and could see him now being much closer to Watkins’ speed.

The two players are also fairly similar in size both standing at 6-1. However, Watkins has a little weight on Johnson as he was listed at 205 in his last year at Clemson compared to Johnson’s 193, but again, I could see TJ putting on a few more pounds of muscle before his time is done in Stillwater.

All in all, I think Watkins is a good overall comparison talent and skill-wise for Johnson. I expect Tyron to continue improving at OSU and hopefully take that on to the next level.