In case you aren't familiar with too many offensive lineman enetering the draft this year, take note of Mike Johnson. Johnson played for the Alabama Crimson Tide during his college career and reached some fairly significant accomplishments. One of the biggest honors a lineman can receive is partial credit to helping his teammate running back win the Heisman Trophy. A few months ago, Crimson Tide Running Back Mark Ingram gave a very emotional acceptance speach and during the course of that sent a warm thanks to his offensive linemen. He said that if it weren't for them, it would not have been possible. And there is truth to the statement.
Johnnson enrolled at the University of Alabama in 2005 and has been on the football team roster for the duration of his time there. He's been noted as one of the better offensive guards coming out in this years draft. He's had some real accomplishments as an offensive lineman. Johnson also at the end of the year received an invite to play in The 2010 Senior Bowl which he played farily well in.
We'll take a more in-depth look at Johnson below.
Here are some highlights from the Senior Bowl. Mike Johnson played left guard in these clips here. His jersey number is #78 for the South Team (white jersey's).
AWARDS AND HONORS:
- 2008 Consensus All-American
- 2008 First Team All-SEC
- 2009 Consensus All-American
- 2009 First Team All-SEC
NO STATS AVAILABLE
SUMMARY AND PROJECTION:
Johnson could very well be the most versatile offensive lineman coming in to the NFL. He has started aat both guard positions as well as both tackle positions while at Alabama. He plays the game very intelligently and rarely takes a bad angle on a block. He punishes the opposition with sheer power and grit when moving forward. Often after a first block, he can get to the second level and start taking out linebackers. His weakness is in his pass blocking. The lower body strength on Johnson definitely needs to be worked on at the next level. He doesn't get beat by a lot of speed rushers, but when someone bull rushes, Johnson is left vunerable to that. His measurements at the Combine were 6'5" 312 LBS.
Possibilities -- 2nd Round: Picks 49-64, 3rd Round: Picks 65-95.