Notre Dame’s quest to add more players to the secondary continued on Saturday as Brauntae “Tae” Johnson committed to the program. The 6’3″ 170 pound athlete comes out of North Side High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana about 90 miles southwest of South Bend. He is a receiver in high school and is coming off a junior season with 69 catches for 1,081 yards and 16 touchdowns. Some colleges were recruiting Johnson on offense but Notre Dame has been targeting him to play safety for the Irish.


Johnson has also been a very productive basketball player for North Side averaging 19 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 4.9 assists, and 2.9 steals per game through 3 high school seasons.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9322), #168 overall, #13 ATH, #3 in IN

On3 Consensus — 4 star (91.96 rating), #164 overall, #5 ATH, #3 in IN

The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.

247Sports — 4 star (91 rating), #160 overall, #13 ATH, #3 in IN

On3 — 4 star (90 rating), #283 overall, #12 ATH, #5 in IN

Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #58 overall, #5 ATH, #3 in IN

ESPN — 4 star (81 rating), #274 overall, #31 ATH, #3 in IN

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (91 rating)

Obviously, we’ve never questioned Rivals in the past and they are spot on with this scouting report.

Cohort

Johnson was offered by Notre Dame just over a year ago on June 5, 2022. As a local product he’s camped and visited South Bend numerous times and was vocal about his love for Notre Dame during the recruiting process. In addition to the Irish, Johnson was offered by Tennessee, Purdue, Michigan State, Penn State, Auburn, Colorado, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Louisville, Kansas, Iowa State, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Washington among the Power 5 conferences.

Highlights

Johnson is a safety prospect with no safety experience. That’s both fascinating and a little scary! As a receiver, he is a really dynamite athlete. For a taller wideout his burst is fantastic and he’s out of his stance and up to full speed very quickly. There’s a lot of everything to like to his game. I’m probably most impressed with his agility with the ball in his hands. This isn’t some lanky receiver making catches over little high school defenders only. In the open field, Johnson has superb cutting ability, jukes hard, and can find open space easily.

On the surface, I don’t see the urge to have Johnson play safety (other than its a major need for Notre Dame). His frame reminds me of Kyle Hamilton but the current Baltimore Ravens All-Rookie came to Notre Dame a very lean but cut 190 pounds and left after 3 years at an impressive 220 pounds. Johnson looks like he’ll automatically need a full year to 18 months in the Irish strength program to get up to a playable safety weight.

Impact

The thinking here probably goes something like this: Johnson’s floor is way, way higher at receiver but Notre Dame must be thinking his ceiling is higher at safety and his lack of experience at the position and basketball background aren’t going to deter them from getting him to that level.

With his athleticism, you can envision a Kyle Hamilton-type of defender. However, a lot more patience will be needed to get Johnson set along that track. It seems like most Irish fans are aware but safety remains a really big need for 2024 and beyond nonetheless.

Welcome to the Irish family, Brauntae!