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Michigan's Will Johnson discusses toe injury, when he started running again and why he's the 'best corner in this draft'

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•about 13 hours•

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Will Johnson
Michigan Wolverines football cornerback Will Johnson was the Defensive MVP of the national championship game. (Photo by Tanner Pearson-Imagn Images)

Michigan Wolverines football cornerback Will Johnson won’t work out at the NFL Combine but met with the media and will go through measurements Friday. Johnson is a projected first-round pick and plans to compete at U-M’s pro day March 21.

The 6-foot-2, 202-pound Johnson isn’t focusing too much on where he might end up, instead preparing for when he is in the league this coming season.

“I try not to think about it too much, because you never know where you’re gonna go, you never know what’s gonna happen,” Johnson said in an interview with Pro Football Talk. “So, I try to do everything I can to impress these teams, show these teams why I’ll be a great player for them, work my hardest to put myself in a great position for when I get there, and then let everything handle itself.”

Johnson is ranked by most analysts as the second-best cornerback in the draft, only behind Colorado’s Travis Hunter. There’s a catch, though: Hunter is also slated to play wideout in the NFL, like he did in college, so Johnson is the top straight cornerback. He was asked if he’s tired of hearing about Hunter.

“Nah. A lot of respect for him,” Johnson replied. “He won the Heisman, he’s done a lot of great things, but I know I’m the best corner in this draft. I’m gonna wait until I get on the field and let the play do the talking.”

Johnson missed Michigan’s final six games of the 2024 season with turf toe. Head coach Sherrone Moore said at one point that he expected Johnson back, but the ailment continued to linger.

“It sounds like it’s ‘just a toe,’ but I had tore some ligaments in my toe, so I couldn’t run, couldn’t plant, couldn’t do anything like that for a while, really, until mid-January,” Johnson revealed.

He said he hasn’t had any setbacks since.

“Feel great,” Johnson added.

The Michigan standout won a Big Ten title his freshman season and the national championship as a sophomore, earning Defensive MVP honors of the 2023 CFP title game. The Wolverines went 8-5 in 2024, but still won big games over Ohio State and Alabama, even if Johnson wasn’t on the field for those two.

“It was definitely disappointing,” Johnson said. “We’re not used to losing the way we did this year. But we finished strong, we did what we had to do. We beat Ohio State, beat Alabama in the bowl game, so we did our best, and now we gotta keep growing off of that.”

Johnson was asked if there are some plays or a game that will show fans what he’s all about, and he pointed to the 2022 and 2023 contests against Ohio State, in addition to some others. In 2022, he covered Ohio State wideout Marvin Harrison Jr., who’s now on the Arizona Cardinals, and in 2023 he had a big first-half interception versus the Buckeyes.

“I would say any game vs. Ohio State,” Johnson said. “Both of my games vs. Purdue, my freshman and sophomore year, and then USC this last year.”

Beating Ohio State is as important as anything at Michigan, even if there are other goals at play.

“If you walk in our building, any TV screen you see, it all says, ‘What are you doing to beat Ohio State today?’ That’s our focus every day we walk in there,” the Michigan standout said. “We see it every day. We truly hate those guys, for sure.”

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