Nebraska Recruiting: JUCO LB Commit William Johnson Decommits From Nebraska

The Nebraska Cornhuskers lost another recruit last night, however as is the case with Aphonso Thomas, there may not have been a place to really play anymore with the Huskers.

William Johnson, who is a Junior College Linebacker from Arizona Western Community College, has decommitted from the Huskers and will attend the University of Alabama-Birmingham, which won't be fielding a team until 2017.

According to several folks, the word on the street is that there were two issues at play here. For one, Johnson hasn't had a great season with Arizona Western CC. He currently has 50 total tackles, 19 unassisted, with 3 sacks on the season.

For comparison sakes, Nebraska LB's Dedrick Young, Josh Banderas and Chris Weber all are close on the same stats for the Huskers. With the LB depth coming up for Nebraska, a JUCO fill-in is probably not necessary anymore in this cycle, freeing up another spot for a spot of need (DL, DB, OL).

Secondly, there is word that grades could have been an issue with Johnson. Being with UAB, who is rebuilding their program and would have a full year to build on that to be able to get on the field. At Nebraska, if he couldn't be on the field (by either grades or depth), it would have been a wasted scholarship spot.

Johnson was going to visit for the Iowa game, but look for that OV to go to someone else. This brings Nebraska down to 14 verbals. It does knock down the ranking due to Johnson's ranking, but it is probably best for all parties. We wish him well, as so should you.