The Redondo Union High School football field was mostly cleared out, the All-American receiver now standing idly near the boundary and the former NFL quarterback having left. A handful of older Los Angeles County residents ambled around the track. Passing them in composed strides through the beach town fog was Hunter Johnson, the country's best high school quarterback.

Moments earlier, Johnson was in the midst of throwing patterns with USC's JuJu Smith-Schuster and Trent Dilfer. Johnson, the No. 1 prep quarterback and Clemson signee, would miss part of that weekend's Elite 11, so those three met a day early on Thursday because 24 hours later Johnson would be on a red eye out of LAX to Indianapolis. Saturday was the Indiana state track and field championships, where he'd represent Brownsburg High School on its 4x400-meter team.

That Sunday morning he'd fly back to the Elite 11 before a final overnight flight for Brownsburg football's 6 a.m workout. Johnson needed to be there for all of it.

"He's a Deshaun Watson-type personality," Brownsburg coach John Hart said. "Deshaun had the leadership coaches look for: Do it with character and by example. Hunter never missed a practice, play, drill, conditioning, lifting, never late."

The four-star Johnson enrolled at Clemson in January, just as Watson did in 2014 as the No. 1 high school quarterback. After the national championship, Watson abdicated the title of the ACC's best quarterback, but Clemson reinforced the position with Johnson, No. 21 in the ESPN 300.

Florida State did the same at running back and defensive end. Leaving Tallahassee are Dalvin Cook and DeMarcus Walker, No. 2 among the Power 5 in rushing and sacks, respectively, but in comes the No. 1 2017 running back, Cam Akers, and defensive end, Joshua Kaindoh.

The ACC loses three of its best players from 2016, but the conference's top contenders bring in a fistful of the absolute best talent to help curb the falloff. No signing day drama for these three either. They're all January enrollees and are at their new homes working. That early arrival gives them a leg up in breaking into the 2017 lineup.

"Florida State has great depth, but I know Joshua is going to compete. If he doesn't break in at defensive tackle or end, he'll find a way on special teams," said Daryl Jackson, who coached Kaindoh until his junior season. "Whoever plays in front of him is going to be one helluva football player."

At Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Maryland, Jackson permitted the 6-foot-6, 256-pound Kaindoh, No. 13 in the ESPN 300, only two tackles per drill against only certain players to protect his own team from his star. That physicality could help him see the field early, but supplanting a starter is unlikely.

The possibility exists that Akers starts as a freshman, though. Akers, No. 9 in the ESPN 300, joins a backfield with junior Jacques Patrick, who rushed for 350 yards this past season. As a senior at Clinton (Mississippi) High School, Akers accumulated more than 2,000 rushing yards.

Cook ran for 1,008 yards as a freshman in 2014, but only twice has RecruitingNation's No. 1 running back topped 1,000 yards as a true freshman. Since 2008, only 20 players from current Power 5 conferences surpassed 1,000 yards in their first season.

It's been a far different trend for the No. 1 quarterback. In ESPN's 11 ranking installments since 2006, eight of the No. 1 quarterbacks have started at some point as a true freshman. Watson is one of the eight, and Clemson was 4-0 in games he started and finished that year.

Johnson is listed as a pocket passer, but he rushed for more than 500 yards as a senior and runs the 400-meter dash in 50 seconds. Clemson players were caught a little off guard when he showcased a 37-inch vertical recently.

"It blew them all away," Reed, his father, said.

Hart, Johnson's former coach, said the biggest area for growth will be in pre- and post-snap reads, and spring camp should help with that. Once he elevates that part of his game, "I know I wouldn't want to compete with him," Hart said. As a thrower he's the best passer Hart's seen in two decades. He likens his release and spiral to Tom Brady's, and in a game last fall he had the arm strength to launch the ball 55 yards off his back foot with a defensive tackle about to crush into him after a 15-yard head start.

"He's really excited about the opportunity. He knows what's in front of him," Reed said. "It's an opportunity not a given, and there are good players around him. But it won't faze him."