NFL draft: Michigan's Will Johnson misses chance to recapture hype at combine
INDIANAPOLIS — There was a time not too long ago when the NFL draft cognoscenti viewed Will Johnson as the top player in the 2025 class.
That was this past summer, when Johnson was attracting as much buzz as two-way phenom Travis Hunter. Hunter got on the cover of the EA Sports College Football 25. But Johnson, a former five-star recruit from Grosse Pointe South, received the revived video game’s highest rating. There wasn’t much controversy when he did.
After all, the consensus opinion then was the Michigan football cornerback was that good. CBS Sports even placed Johnson No. 1 overall in its NFL prospect rankings released last August.
But in the months that followed, the hype around Johnson faded as he fell out of sight. A turf toe injury suffered in a loss to Illinois last October caused Johnson to miss the final six games in his final season with the Wolverines, after the program already had experienced a precipitous decline in the shadow of its 2023 national title. His extended absence and the vagueness of his condition led some outsiders to speculate Johnson had shut it down to avoid impairing his draft stock at a time when his team was out of contention and there was not much left for him to gain.
“I know my teammates and my coaches know how hard I work and how much I love them and that I never quit on them,” Johnson said Thursday at the NFL combine.
A mild look of annoyance flashed across his face when a reporter asked him to explain why he elected not to come back later in the year — implying Johnson may have had a choice.
“It was never a decision to sit out,” Johnson responded. “Physically, I couldn’t play. I couldn’t be out there. I did everything I could every day to try to get back. I was there with my teammates in meetings and in practice, trying to still be very involved, but could never physically play.”
It was a disappointing final act in his Michigan career, which was highlighted by a pair of All-America selections, defensive MVP honors in the 2023 College Football Playoff title game and seven interceptions made in his first two seasons.
“It kind of hurt him mentally, obviously, not being able to go out there and play,” former Michigan tight end Colston Loveland said Thursday.
As Johnson noted with regret, his best-laid plans for 2024 went awry.
“But that comes with the game,” he said. “You got to do what you can do.”
When he was in peak form, the 6-foot-2 Johnson was both a rangy and fluid playmaker with superior technique, high football intelligence and natural instincts.
“He’s a stud,” Loveland raved. “No one knows defense, no one knows how to play corner like him.”
In six appearances last season, Johnson returned two interceptions for touchdowns and allowed a 61.5% catch rate. But his body of work was left incomplete, which led evaluators to parse his limited junior year tape and find flaws.
“I do not think he played his best this year,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. “I thought there were times where he wasn't super interested against the run and he got trucked a couple of times … I just want to see a little more physicality there, and then some guys got on top of him. Didn't get a chance to finish out the year healthy. I think this will be a big spring for him to recapture some of the momentum he had in a much better season in '23.”
For the moment, however, Johnson remains stuck in neutral as he continues to recover from his injury. Consequently, he won't work out at the combine and instead plans to participate in drills at Michigan’s March 21 pro day. How that will impact Johnson’s stock in the interim is uncertain.
But it has already fallen ever so slightly. While he is still projected to be selected in the first round, it no longer seems guaranteed he will be a top-10 pick or even the first cornerback taken. (He went No. 11 to San Francisco in the Detroit Free Press' first mock draft last week.)
Hunter, the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner who moonlights as a wide receiver, is forecast to be taken before Johnson. The current juxtaposition of Hunter and Johnson was reinforced Thursday, when both players met with the media at the same time. A huge throng of reporters gathered around Hunter, while Johnson was greeted by a much smaller audience.
Asked whether it felt like people had somehow forgotten about him, Johnson responded, “I’m trying not to worry about it. I know whoever gets me is going to get a good pick. … I don’t worry about all the hype and all those things.”
Just like his injury, he knows so much of it is out of his control.
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