Rarely does a true freshman come onto the scene the way that Will Johnson did for Michigan football.
Johnson didn’t really start getting run in his first year of playing until Week 9 in the road game vs. Rutgers, thanks in part to Gemon Green suffering an injury in the aftermath of the Michigan State game. He showed out immediately, netting an interception before getting two more in the Big Ten Championship game weeks later.
The Grosse Pointe (Mich.) South native was a former five-star, and it showed as he locked big-name receivers down when put on them — from Ohio State‘s Marvin Harrison Jr. to TCU’s Quentin Johnston. He’s done so well that PFF considers him the third-best returning cornerback entering 2023.
So far, so good, right? According to his position coach Steve Clinkscale (speaking on the ‘In the Trenches’ podcast), that’s not his mentality, whatsoever.
“Will will tell you he can improve in every phase,” Clinkscale said. “He never forgets, anytime he’s been beat, whether it’s practice, whether it’s in walk-through, whether it’s in the game. So he never feels like he’s even close to accomplishing what he wants to.
“He wants to be a dominant player every snap. I think we can continue to build on his ability to affect the quarterback more as a blitzer, because he’s a really good blitzer. Also can, his main game, we can leave him on his own a little bit. But he’s a great zone coverage guy, does a great job in all our zones in keeping good eyes, and he’s got very good instincts.”
Where are his biggest areas of improvement, in Clinkscale’s eyes?
He’s honest in that he doesn’t feel like Johnson is a big work in progress as much as he’s already on the right track. Perhaps his biggest potential pratfall is complacency, but Clinkscale doesn’t see any evidence that that will be a potential problem.
What’s more, Johnson is ignoring all of the aforementioned hype.
“I think the biggest thing for Will, for me, is just continue to coach the emotional and the mental side — in which he’s done a great job,” Clinkscale said. “But with all these expectations, and everybody telling you how good you are, he doesn’t want to hear it. We’re not trying to be complacent. And we’re not trying to fall victim of being, ‘We’re just so good that it doesn’t matter. We don’t have to show up.’
“His biggest thing is seeing how hard he works lately, has proven to me that he’s listening to all the media and all the hype. He feels like he’s got a lot to prove. And we want to win it all.”
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