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Johnson's Goal Was to be Great and He Met His Expectations

The Mississippi State transfer listed different objectives and he's nearly all of them.
Dan Raley|
Johnson's Goal Was to be Great and He Met His Expectations
Johnson's Goal Was to be Great and He Met His Expectations

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Washington Huskies

Most University of Washington football players head to the training to alleviate the pain. Dillon Johnson has done plenty of that, but he also goes there to feel good about himself.

Posted on the wall are his goals for the season. The Husky running back has hit nearly every one of them so far.

One thousand yards rushing. Check.

Fifteen touchdowns scored. Check, with one more.

Pac-12 championship. Check.

National title. To be determined.

"I'm knocking at all the doors of all my goals," Johnson said, happy to share all of this prognosticating efforts with media inquisitors surrounding him. "It's been great."

While the championships rightfully would be on every UW player's wish list, the former Mississippi State transfer's ability to predict those statistical levels is a little uncanny considering his past performances down South.

While he has 1,113 yards rushing on 201 carries for the Huskies this season, Johnson's highest ground total in the SEC was 488 yards in 2022.

While one shy of 15 TDs for the UW, he had no more than 5 in a season for Mississippi State, hitting that number in 2021.

Where he's flipped his output radically is he has 19 receptions this season while topping out in the late Mike Leach's Air Raid specific offense with 65 catches in 2021.

Some people even went as far as to describe Johnson as simply a receiver in running back's clothing coming out of the backfield, but the Huskies envisioned much more in using him.

"That's what people thought and that's a disrespect to him, to be honest with you," UW running-backs coach Lee Marks said. "He has been a fantastic runner, even at Mississippi State when they asked him to run the ball."

Johnson has battled through a new college football environment, a new part of the country and nagging injuries, but he hasn't let anything get in the way of his or the Huskies' success.

Now he finds himself in the College Football Playoff and the Sugar Bowl against Texas in New Orleans, not far from his Mississippi home. He came in with a plan and stuck with it.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," he said. "I'm leaving it all on the field. Like I said before, I don't care if I don't have an arm, leg, knee, foot, whatever it takes to win this game, I'm going to do it."

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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