@johnathan76 (Johnathan Blackburn) is a “bull in a china shop” for @PaintsvilleFB

Johnathan Blackburn, whose highlight film is linked here, is a prospect we identified very early in his high school career. As a hulking, 6-5 320-pounder back in the day, he was hard to miss.

He certainly hasn’t done anything in his career to dampen our enthusiasm. Johnathan was selected to our KPGFootball Freshman All-State team in 2017. He was featured in an article we will now link for you entitled Class of 2021…Calling the Hogs!

We weren’t done rating Blackburn either. In 2018, he was selected by us the 13th-best football player (regardless of position) in the entire Kentucky graduating class of 2021. That article is also being linked for you and was entitled KPGFootball’s 21 for 2021.

When BoyleCo came out with his traditional top-30, preseason OL list, Blackburn came in at number 12, all-classes, among the top-30. This wasn’t Blackburn’s first appearance on the list either.

We seem to remember his making the top-30, preseason list in 2019. If we are wrong about this, the error would really belong to BoyleCo and not us. If he wasn’t on that list, he certainly should have been. He was among the top-30 that preseason too.

The point is…Johnathan Blackburn is a very known commodity. He’s been around the block, so to speak. No one at this juncture of his career should be claiming his being considered among Kentucky’s elite players has come out of nowhere. We’ve seen this train coming since it pulled out of the station, three years ago.

In football circles, we call this a Hoss-cat

Watching John’s film, he’s devastating at the point of attack. He has a powerful punch and brings his feet and hips like an avalanche of manhood, running his feet through the whistle. He squares up his target well and uses his enormity, strength, and power to “finish” him.

Unlike many young tackles (he plays RT), John plays in space well and gets second level, connecting with second level targets, effectively. It is one reason why Joe Chirico’s Tigers rip-off so many 20-plus yard gains…that and receivers who also stalk well.

Blackburn’s pad level has lowered as he has gotten older and stronger. That was expected. As an offensive lineman matures he starts firing out instead of up.

Blackburn is quick off the line and out of his stance. He has powerful and well-placed first-two steps off the line. He power steps well and gathers himself for impact well. He plays over his backside and the bottoms of his feet and not out over his toes where his body weight and forward leverage can work against instead of for him.

If you’re looking for something we haven’t been saying about John for three years, we liked his highlights as a defensive lineman too. He was immovable up-front (shocker) and demonstrated a devastating shock and shed with the ability to scrape down the line of scrimmage, either direction, and get in on plays.

We didn’t see him get driven off the line of scrimmage even one time. We’re sure there are linemen who can drive him back into the second level of the defense. We aren’t certain they are playing on Friday nights in the commonwealth of Kentucky.

Now he projects on the offensive side of the ball and will probably either stay at RT on the next level or slide inside to one of the guard spots. With his intelligence (3.91 GPA, 23 ACT) he would also make a really fine center.

So, welcome to the party for all you new subscribers, waking up this morning and saying, Johnathan Blackburn, who’s that? Get you a cup of coffee, get good and awake, and thank the good Lord you found this site.

Simply put, Johnathan Blackburn is exactly what we have been claiming he is for the last three years. He’s one of Kentucky’s finest at his or any level of high school play.

This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!

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About Henry Lyon 1210 Articles
Have coached at the high school and middle school level. Have worked in athletic administration. Conceal my identity to enable my candor on articles published by this magazine. Only members of the editorial board are aware of my true identity.

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