NFL Draft watch: Florida State, ‘Last Chance U’ alum Jermaine Johnson II
Editor’s note: The New York Jets selected DE Jermaine Johnson II with the No. 26 pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft on April 28.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (BVM) – The NFL Draft is less than a month away and one of the first names that will be announced by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has come along way to get to Las Vegas.
“If you didn’t love the sport you wouldn’t have went the route I did and hopefully I complete it but you wouldn’t have made it this far,” Jermaine Johnson II said about his journey at the Senior Bowl in early February. “I love the game of football.”
Johnson is coming off a historic season at Florida State in which he became the first player in ACC history to win defensive or offensive player of the year in their first year of playing in the conference. The 6-foot-5 edge rusher earned the ACC Defensive Player of the Year Award by racking up 70 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, two forced fumbles and two passes defended.
(Credit: Brad McClenny/The Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK)
However, even after his success with the Seminoles, there were still questions about Johnson as he entered the draft process. In large, that was due to the fact that he had transferred from the University of Georgia to Florida State. The move was viewed as a step down in competition, but Johnson dispelled those criticisms quickly.
At the Senior Bowl, Johnson dominated against the best players in the country, wowing scouts and media that attended the event in Mobile.
“I wanted to show I could dominate the best of the best and that’s what I intend to do at the next level,” Johnson said at the NFL Combine about his performance at the Senior Bowl.
He then followed up his performance at the Senior Bowl with NFL Combine and pro day showings that continued to elevate his draft stock. At the combine, he ran a 4.58 40 and jumped a 32-inch vertical. At his pro day, he had 27 reps on bench press.
Johnson’s amazing year at Florida State and what he has done during the draft process is the culmination of years of hard work that began back in high school.
“It’s a great story of a kid who was not recruited, went to a junior college for a lot of different reasons and he made the best out of it,” Johnson’s former high school coach Mike Grant said.
Johnson played for Grant at Eden Prairie, one of the premier football programs in the state of Minnesota. During his time with the Eagles, he won a state championship in 2014 and then during his senior year helped Eden Prairie get back to the state championship. In the state championship game, Johnson had eight tackles, two for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble.
“He was an all-state kid, an all-metro kid,” Johnson said.
Unfortunately, Johnson went largely unrecruited, in large part due to his grades and that led him to going to Independence Community College in Independence, Kansas. While there, Johnson appeared on season four of ‘Last Chance U’ and became one of the top JUCO recruits in the country.
“He did a great job in the classroom and got himself where he could choose where he wanted to go,” Grant said. “He’s made the absolute best of that situation.”
From ICC he committed to Georgia, then after two years with the Bulldogs, he transferred to Florida State and is now showing the country why Johnson has always trusted in his own abilities.
“A versatile athlete who’s going to give you everything he has,” Grant said. “He has got that true pro body and that true pro mindset to be someone that plays in the league for a long time I think.”
It’s an inspiring story that shows how much work it takes to not only make it to the college level, but to sustain that high level of competition.
“When you get to college, it’s a whole other level of commitment and effort and Jermaine bought into that,” Grant said.
Now Johnson is on the cusp of being drafted in the first round. Most mock drafts have him going in the early teens and he is considered one of the top edge rushers in the draft. In less than a month, he will join Jets linebacker Blake Cashman, Vikings linebacker Ryan Connelly and Giants linebacker Carter Coughlin as former Eden Prairie Eagles playing in the NFL.
“He’s not our first, we’ve got three in the NFL right now,” Grant said. “Having said that it’s always exciting to have one of your former players do really good things in college and have a chance to make it in the NFL.”
For a high school in the suburbs of Minneapolis, it is an impressive group that showcases the program’s success as well as the athletes’. Those four, along with many other Eden Prairie Eagles, know that it takes more than God given talent to get to the next level. It’s that willingness to put the work in that the Eagles try to emphasize every year.
“They all have one trait that all four have is that they all work their butts off and that’s what you try to get across to the kids,” Grant said. “The guys like Jermaine and the rest or our guys inspire them to work that hard.”
Johnson will continue to be a great example of that work ethic for many years to come.
“I know he’ll be on a roster next fall and we’ll be watching him,” Grant said.
