Michael Cohen
Faculty Soccer and Faculty Basketball Author
On Jan. 2, the day after Michigan outlasted Alabama to win the Rose Bowl and advance to the nationwide championship recreation, star cornerback Will Johnson posted a slideshow of pictures to his Instagram account. The primary image is an in-game shot of Johnson with no person else in sight. The second image turned an instantaneous catalyst for Maize and Blue déjà vu: one other star defensive again donning this system’s historic No. 2 jersey with a rose clamped between his tooth.
Comparisons had lengthy been drawn between Johnson, a first-team All-American whose father performed for the Wolverines, and probably the most well-known wearer of that very same quantity, cornerback Charles Woodson, the 1997 Heisman Trophy winner who guided Michigan to its most up-to-date nationwide championship till the drought resulted in January. Iconic photographs of Woodson celebrating his staff’s Rose Bowl win over Washington State whereas chomping on a flower stem have been remodeled into bobblehead dolls and artistic endeavors alike.
An already indelible connection was fortified even additional when Johnson hinted at an expanded position this season. Talking at his youth soccer camp in Detroit final week, Johnson informed reporters “there’s just a little buzz across the constructing” concerning his potential involvement as a large receiver on offense, simply as Woodson double-dipped throughout the ’96 and ’97 campaigns with 21 mixed catches for 370 yards and three touchdowns. Woodson additionally scored on a 77-yard punt return towards Ohio State throughout his Heisman Trophy-winning season.
“We’ll wait to see the way it goes,” Johnson stated, in line with 247Sports. “It is a chance. It is at all times a chance, for certain.”
At a time when the school soccer information cycle begins to gradual, Johnson’s feedback triggered waves of pleasure for a fan base desirous to recreation the situation out: May Johnson, who performed either side of the ball in highschool, grow to be a viable choice for an unproven and undermanned receiving corps that misplaced Roman Wilson (789 yards, 12 TDs) and Cornelius Johnson (604 yards, 1 TD) to the NFL? May he develop right into a bonafide two-way participant like Colorado star Travis Hunter, who logged greater than 450 snaps on offense and almost 600 snaps on protection final season? Would first-year head coach Sherrone Moore even enable Johnson, who’s arguably the most effective cornerback within the nation and a projected first-round decide, to log further enjoying time figuring out the harm menace it inevitably presents?
Primarily based on what Johnson achieved at Grosse Pointe South Excessive Faculty in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, a northeastern suburb of Detroit, the talent set essential to contribute at wideout is probably going there, particularly when paired together with his 6-foot-2, 202-pound body — a construct that makes him taller and heavier than every of the Wolverines’ projected starters this fall. Johnson, who completed because the No. 15 total prospect and the No. 3 cornerback within the 2022 recruiting cycle, supplemented his defensive tasks by catching 42 passes for 667 yards and 6 touchdowns throughout his senior season, with an extra 635 yards from speeding makes an attempt and punt returns mixed. He snagged 37 passes for 600 yards and eight touchdowns the 12 months prior.
However Johnson’s deployment at Michigan by no means strayed past the secondary, the place he cracked the beginning lineup partway by means of his freshman season, and particular groups, for which he made smaller and smaller contributions as his defensive significance soared. In-season practices, spring practices and offseason exercises have been no exception, in line with a former member of the teaching employees who spoke to FOX Sports activities earlier this week. The Wolverines by no means a lot as toyed with Johnson enjoying offense throughout his first two years in Ann Arbor.
So why now? Why is likely one of the greatest cornerbacks within the nation lobbying for a bigger and riskier position lower than a 12 months earlier than doubtlessly changing into a top-10 decide within the 2025 NFL Draft? Why would Michigan’s teaching employees even entertain such an thought when Johnson is the one established cornerback on the roster?
One of many causes could possibly be Michigan’s lack of expertise and depth at broad receiver following a slew of offseason departures that left the Wolverines dangerously low on scholarship wideouts throughout spring follow. Along with dropping Wilson (third-round decide by the Pittsburgh Steelers) and Cornelius Johnson (seventh-round decide by the Los Angeles Chargers) to the professionals, Michigan additionally bid farewell to Cristian Dixon, Karmello English and Darrius Clemons by way of the switch portal — a trio of former four-star prospects. English and Clemons, specifically, have been seen as vital recruiting wins for the Wolverines after they dedicated.
All of these exits depart Semaj Morgan (22 catches, 204 yards, 2 TDs) and junior Tyler Morris (13 catches, 197 yards, 1 TD) as the one returning wideouts who accounted for greater than 32 receiving yards final season. They venture as starters in 2024 alongside sophomore Fredrick Moore (4 catches, 32 yards, 0 TDs), a standout performer in Michigan’s spring recreation.
Subsequent makes an attempt from Moore, offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell and broad receivers coach Ron Bellamy to strengthen the place group have been underwhelming for a staff that has reached the Faculty Soccer Playoff three consecutive occasions and gained the nationwide championship earlier this 12 months. They added the third-most productive receiver from Youngstown State in C.J. Charleston (No. 714 switch, No. 109 WR), who caught 33 passes for 503 yards and 4 touchdowns on the FCS degree final season. And so they introduced again former three-star prospect Amorion Walker, a large receiver-turned-cornerback, who left Michigan after the 2023 season after which re-entered the switch portal following one semester at Ole Miss. Walker is reportedly transferring again to offense throughout his second stint with the Wolverines.
Although Woodson stays Michigan’s gold normal for contributing on offense and protection concurrently, the profession arc of somebody like Walker presents one other window into why Johnson may really feel he can sway the coaches into utilizing him at broad receiver. Former head coach Jim Harbaugh by no means shied away from experimenting with gamers at totally different positions throughout the latter levels of his tenure, a philosophy that did not at all times work however nonetheless produced unbelievable outcomes en path to successful the nationwide title. He transformed Mike Sainristil from broad receiver to an All-American nickelback. He flipped Kalel Mullings from a reserve linebacker to a contributing working again. He remodeled Max Bredeson from a highschool quarterback right into a ferocious blocking tight finish/H-back.
And whereas none of these gamers have been counted on to play either side of the ball in the identical season — not less than to not any vital diploma throughout video games — it is potential that a few of Harbaugh’s creativeness rubbed off on Moore, his trusted confidant and offensive coordinator final 12 months. Maybe Moore can envision Johnson doing what Woodson has already finished in Maize and Blue.
“Coach Campbell at all times says one thing to me about [playing offense],” Johnson informed reporters. “Coach Moore, he is rather less keen on it simply because he needs me to verify I am nonetheless on the market on protection.
“However yeah, all of the offensive guys like it, they usually need me to. They know what I can do. So yeah, I hope that I can do it just a little bit.”
Michael Cohen covers faculty soccer and basketball for FOX Sports activities with an emphasis on the Huge Ten. Comply with him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.
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