Georgia's Jermaine Johnson Talks about Social Injustices

Jermaine Johnson didn't start his career in college football as a household name. In fact, coming from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Johnson didn't have an offer from a Power-5 program coming out. As so many other prospects in his position out of high school do, he elected to take the JUCO route in order to shore up his grades and elevate his recruiting profile.

And he did exactly that at Independence Community College in Kansas. He spent two seasons at Independence and left the JUCO ranks as the No. 1 ranked defensive player in the country and on his way to Athens.

In 2019 for Georgia, Johnson played in all 14 games at the outside linebacker position but was used in a variety of ways. He lined up as a traditional edge rusher, he played in a stand-up OLB role and even played a bit of inside linebacker on 3rd downs for Georgia.

Now, entering his final season of college football, Johnson looks to become a leader for the Bulldogs. He spoke to the media about the social injustices happening in our country, how he's prepared this offseason and what to expect from him this fall.

On what his perspective, as a black man, is of the social injustices happening across the country and what Georgia Football is doing to take action…

“The last few weeks have been really hard just to see everything that is going on in the news and everything. I think it has struck me, as well as all of my teammates, really hard—white or black because we are united here. We are brothers—those type of issues affect all of us. In terms of what we are doing, we as a team—team and staff—we had a very productive talk in the past couple of days. Coach Smart just let us come up and share how we are feeling. We actually had white boards—I think it was a three-hour meeting—just to get a bunch of things off of our chests. Just talking as a team and as a program on what we can do to make not only ourselves feel safe but other people feel safe out in the world and in the community.”

On being back in Minnesota during quarantine and what his mentality and goals were when getting back to Athens...

“Personally, I was very determined. I don’t think I put my best on film last year, personally. Going into this season and especially coming into the spring I was really excited to prove some things and work hard and just get better at some things I need to get better at—be whatever I needed to be for the team. Over quarantine I was just keeping my head down and working hard. I mean, I came from [Junior College] so it wasn’t really anything new. My dad had actually purchased some weights and other things in his garage. So, I keeping my head down and calling Coach Sinclair asking what I can do just to get better in terms of some speed stuff because you know I am a football player at the end of the day, so I can’t just be lifting weights. I don’t know—I was just trying to bounce things off of my coach of what I can do better while I’m not there. I was really focused on not falling behind because I know it’s easy for some guys to fall in that slump over that time. That was really what I was trying not to do.”

On from his perspective of what he brings to the table in a talented outside linebacker group...

“I honestly just try to ask my coaches what I can do better every single day, after practice. I try to be what I can for my team whether that be on special teams—everything like that. At this level, everyone has attributes. It comes down to technique and will and how much passion you give to the game and how committed you are to the program. I just ask my teammates and my coaches what I can do to get better every day. Whatever happens after that, happens.”