Will Johnson 'trying to be healthy all year' in pivotal junior season
EA SPORTS College Football 25's highest-rated player, Michigan cornerback Will Johnson, sat down with Maize and Blue Review on Tuesday afternoon at an NIL photoshoot for Wolverine Boots.
Johnson, who was representing the brand alongside other stud Michigan players Donovan Edwards, Colston Loveland and Mason Graham, chatted about his representation of the brand as well as his goals for the upcoming football season.
The junior cornerback is rated as a 96 overall in the newly released video game, and he's the top-rated player in the entire game. Despite being listed as the best player in the first college football video game in over a decade, Johnson is focused on reaching an overall rating of 99.
"I love my overall grade," Johnson said. "Gotta get that 99, though."
To the average viewer, Johnson, a consensus first-team All-American in 2023 and the defensive MVP of the National Championship Game, doesn't have much room to grow as a player. But when asked what he believes he needs to do to reach that elusive 99 overall rating, Johnson says he needs to stay healthy.
"I think this year, I'm just trying to be healthy all year," Johnson said. "For me, really, just being healthy, I think that would give me a lot more game experience, more game tape, being out there more for my guys. My freshman year, I was able to have a full season. Last year, I wasn't. So I'm trying to get back to that — put a full season together."
Johnson underwent knee surgery last offseason, which prevented him from competing at his full capabilities in 2023, as he explained on Tuesday afternoon.
"During camp, a few practices in, I re-injured it," Johnson said. "And I missed the first three games, I think. First two games? I think I played a series in the third game. And then I played in the fourth... I would say I wasn't really healthy at all. There was a stretch from, like, in that middle of the season, like Indiana, to, like, Michigan State — in that range of games — when I started to feel healthy. But at the same time, my body wasn't ready for the season, so I got right for a little bit, but I didn't put all that work in throughout the offseason so I could sustain it throughout the season."
"I would say I was probably about 70-75 [percent] last year. I mean, I wasn't really able to run. I mean, if you really know my game, you'd be able to tell that's why I played kinda the way I did last year, because I didn't really trust myself running and things like that. ... People didn't really know that, but there are no excuses when I'm on the field. It feels good to be able to have that confidence again, like I had before."
With fall camp now just two weeks away, Johnson is fully healthy in preparation for what will likely be his last season of college football. Before the grind of the season begins, Johnson is continuing to focus on his body.
"Just working on the little things. Like pilates, just working on a lot of small muscles, like core a lot, putting your body in positions it's not used to. The PT stuff I do is a lot of things for my leg to get it back to where I need it to be. Taking care of your tissues, making sure you don't have any hamstring injuries or calf injuries, or things like that. So, really taking care of your body all around — the way you eat, the way you sleep, the way you drink, the way you work out — all those things matter."
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