Quick Hits: New Colts DT Eric Johnson's NFL Reality Materialized Quickly
We knew the Indianapolis Colts would eventually grab a player from a small school during the 2022 NFL Draft; they almost always do.
That finally came in the fifth round with the 159th-overall pick when they selected defensive tackle Eric Johnson out of Missouri State.
As a FCS player without much fanfare, the NFL wasn't always on Johnson's mind, but an impressive 2021 season and invite to a pre-draft bowl game helped set things in a different direction.
Johnson spoke with the local media and told his story on Saturday.
Here are the quick hits:
The NFL wasn't always in Johnson's sights, but once his career began to heat up it became more of a reality.
It didn’t really hit me until like later on when I started seeing some success with my coach. He just started teaching me a little bit more, then when I started applying that to my game, I started seeing more of that success. That’s when it kind of dawned on me that the possibilities were there and that as long as I take the opportunity, I could keep going with it. So, it was definitely later on I would say.
Johnson takes on the persona of a creature or animal when he's on the field, leading to his Twitter handle @TheCreature93.
Yeah, it was a nickname we kind of came up with because most of my life, I’ve always been E.J. My full name is Eric Morris Johnson II, but we had a guy there, a senior in front of me, his name was Eugene Sutton, so he was also E.J. We were just coming up with some different names that we could get. I know me and my dad, we always talk about personas. You know, playing the game, when you’re going out there, what do you want to play like? Like a creature, like an animal. That’s just kind of how it came about.
Johnson participated in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, which is a big deal for a small-school product from the FCS. From there, his draft stock began to take shape. He formed a strong relationship with the Colts during the pre-draft process, which obviously resulted in his selection.
It really started picking up during that time. For me especially, it was really important because I was under the radar for a lot of people. Coming from a smaller division, not a lot of people saw more film of me and a lot of people didn’t know me. That was a good opportunity for teams to be able to see my abilities and how I can play at that type of level. So, it was very important for me to be at those specific bowl games so I could shock a lot of people, go out there and really show what I can do that they didn’t know about. It was during that time, that’s when I started getting more attention from the Colts and started talking some more.
It was pretty good. We went there (Colts) – out of all of them, I had nine total visits, but out of all of the visits, the Colts visit was the most in depth when it came to analyzing us as a player, the process we went through when it came to seeing the facility, seeing the coaches, the staff and it was all kind of very in depth in getting the full look at everything that we’re probably going through compare to anywhere else. Just kind of like, hey, here’s this person, here’s that person. So, it was more of a professional look I would say.
Johnson already has a general idea of how he'll be used in Indianapolis.
It would definitely be, if they’re doing a three down, I would be more of a four-tech, close to five or if we’re switching to four it would be three. I feel like having me in there, it would be allowing them to be a more comfortable switch between the different schemes and not having to work as much because I could still be in there and play either position.
Johnson already knows of some key areas where he can improve but also where he can emphasize his strengths.
The area I need to improve mostly is the transition between my run and pass. I can do individually, both pretty well but when I need to (inaudible) that can be crucial. So, speeding that up is definitely where I want to focus my game on. I feel where one of my strong suits comes from is my versatility, being able to play multiple positions and holding in there being a reliable character for the line is one of my strong suits as a player.
What do you think of this pick? Drop your thoughts below in the comment section!
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