Full interview with Isaiah Johnson:
Syracuse’s defense faced more adversity this past Saturday, as if that was even possible. SU has already been gutted with key injuries at several positions and some more piled up in this past weekend’s 24-9 win over NC State.
Garrett Williams went down in the first half after a thunderous tackle. Unfortunately, the big hit came at a cost and the All-ACC corner was in street clothes observing the game from the sidelines during the second half. There was an NFL scout sitting right in front of us at the contest and he was constantly asking around trying to get an update on G-Will’s status.
While that scout was scrambling for answers, he failed to watch the game and see this player wearing #20 balling out in the boundary. For those who don’t know, that player was Isaiah Johnson. The grad student might be unknown to many of you because he’s primarily seen time in special teams and towards the end of games in backup duty along with an occasional rotation snap.
Now, this isn’t a player that’s bided his time waiting for his turn. Instead, Johnson is an incredible student-athlete who came to the Hill by way of the transfer portal. The metro Detroit native spent the first four years of his collegiate career suiting up for Dartmouth in the Ivy League.
Johnson attended Detroit Country Day High School located in Beverly Hills, Michigan. DCD as it’s otherwise known, is a very highly respected school in the Great Lakes State and consistently churns out D1 football talent.
After a very successful senior year which saw Johnson corral eight interceptions and record 71 tackles, he decided to commit to Dartmouth over other Ivy League opportunities. The 6’3″, 205 pound defender earned all-state honors in “the Mitten.”
Johnson’s career as a Big Green didn’t exactly go as planned, at first. The lengthy cornerback spent his first season getting up to speed with the college game and participated in special teams. As a sophomore things really started to click and come together.
Johnson opened college football 150th season as a starting corner for the Big Green. The Michigan product totaled a career-high eight tackles in his second start against Colgate but that would be the highlight of his season. The then-sophomore suffered a season-ending knee injury and lost all the momentum he had just gained.
So obviously a disappointing second college season and it got worse in 2020. The Ivy League did not hold a college football season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many athletes from the league’s schools transferred away to other schools who did participate in athletics in that trying year, but not Johnson.
Instead, the rising senior prepared himself for a breakout year in 2021…and breakout he did.
Johnson picked up right where he left off on September 28th, 2019 against the Red Raiders totaled five tackles with one-half tackle for loss as well. Eight games later, the fourth-year defender was named a first-team All-Ivy League performer at cornerback.
So Johnson had proven that he’s capable of playing high level ball at the collegiate level. It’s incredible the amount of adversity he had to overcome between the injury and pandemic. Following a successful 2021 season, the former unheralded and no-star recruit decided he wanted to bet on himself. Johnson entered his name in the transfer portal and the colleges started knocking.
UMass, Colorado, Tulane, Miami of Ohio, and of course Syracuse all offered Johnson. SU has a very respected footprint in the state of Michigan and probably scouted the Detroit Country Day cornerback in 2018. Johnson took a visit to the 315 back in the winter and eventually committed to the ‘Cuse. The Dartmouth transfer pointed to one person in particular that drove him to choose Syracuse
Coach White always gets us right, he always gets us ready. I was transferring and he’s part of the reason I came here. I met him, I got a chance to talk to him and I knew he was going to be a good coach for me to play under. All the players love him too. So it’s just one of those things where when you have a coach like that and you bring the best out of you, you just play your best. He’s very detailed-oriented and makes sure we know the opponent better than they know themselves and every week we just go into the game with that mindset and buy all the way in.”
Tony White has been an A+ hire from Dino Babers and Company and Johnson is just living proof of his successes as a coach. When Garrett Williams was sidelined, Johnson was thrust into the spotlight in the biggest game in the Dome since 1998 and he performed admirably.
It feels great I mean, you prepare all year, you prepare all week for these kind of moments, for these types of games. With the crowd sold out, all the energy and everything it was just, it was set up to be a big game and I’m glad the team made the most of it.”
Now there’s obviously a big difference between a handful of fans attending Ivy League games and what we saw on Saturday. The Loud House was rocking all afternoon and the sold-out crowd propelled this team to the upset win.
Johnson really enjoyed his experience playing in front of the environment on Saturday.
“I don’t want to try and downplay my experiences at the Ivy League but it’s definitely one of the biggest games I’ve been in. It has to do with the environment, when you’re in the Dome and it gets loud like that you really feel the bigger moments. I would say that differentiates it the most.
If you watched number 20 in Navy flying all around Ernie Davis Legends Field then you saw his playing style. Johnson plays with his emotions on his sleeve and high energy and that’s just part of his game.
“I love football, it’s the game i love. Anytime I get to play in this game and I get to make a play on the field, I can’t help but let my emotions show. Also just coming in after a great player like Garrett Williams, you have big shoes to fill but it’s also your own shoes so tried to step in there and just play my own game.”
Now, transitioning from the Ivy League to the ACC seems like a big adjustment. However, Johnson is already being trusted as the CB3 for this team and any adjustments have been made. So what were the biggest things the Dartmouth transfer had to familiarize himself with?
“It’s definitely a lot faster, all the players are super super talented. The difference wasn’t huge, it was more learning the defense, learning how to play with my new teammates and that kind of chemistry really was my biggest learning curve. Other than that, getting rhythm and hopping in the game, once you get a few plays you usually catch up to the speed.”
One thing that definitely helps in that adjustment is having a pair of All-ACC corners in the room in Williams and Duce Chestnut. Johnson said the biggest thing he learned from Williams was to take note of the minute details.
“Garrett is a detail-oriented kid. He watches film, he finds tendencies. He’s really a football-IQ minded kid. So learning that and taking the time to actually see where his mind is at and where his game is at has really got my game up a lot of steps.”
So Syracuse finds itself in a situation it hasn’t been in in quite some time. A top-15 ranking at #14 in the nation and a very high profile road date with #5 Clemson. SU has caught Dabo Swinney and Company off-guard previously, but that won’t be the case this time around. The Orange are a perfect 6-0 and a serious threat to the Tigers’ Atlantic Division Championship hopes.
A big reason why is that Syracuse owns the best scoring and total defense in the ACC. Sure the offense is much better under OC Robert Anae and QB Garrett Shrader, but defense wins championships. So how much better can this unit get?
“You can always be better, you can always be better. There is no ceiling for us. I think with a defense like this, as long as we play still play with chemistry, energy, and physicality then there’s really nothing that can stop us”
The Orange are 6-0 halfway through the 2022 slate and have chances to elevate their postseason bid from the Sun Bowl to potentially a New Years Six Bowl. The second half starts in Death Valley this Saturday at high noon.
