By Roscoe Nance


None of North Carolina A&T State defensive end Darryl Johnson’s MEAC-leading 10.5 quarterback sacks was bigger than the one he made in the Aggies’ season-opening 20-17 victory over FCS power Jacksonville State.
 
It came in the waning seconds with Jacksonville State perched at the Aggies’ 18-yard line after quarterback Zerrick Cooper had completed five straight passes and had the Gamecocks poised to tie the score -- or perhaps take the lead.
 
Johnson had a different idea. The redshirt junior from Kingsland, Ga., beat his blocker as Cooper dropped back to pass, and he separated the quarterback from the ball. The Aggies recovered it and ran the clock out for the victory.
 
That play was a harbinger of what lie ahead for Johnson, a 2017 All-MEAC and All-American pick, and it kickstarted him to the 2018 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year Award.
 
“That was a crazy moment,” Johnson said. “That was the best moment I’ve had. We were getting tired.  I made a play for the team. We all got excited. We felt like, ’Yeah, we’re a good team.’”
 
It also served notice that Johnson was a playmaker par excellence, which was confirmed by the MEAC’s head coaches and sports information directors, who chose him as the top defensive player in the conference.
 
 “I didn’t expect it,” Johnson said. “It’s an honor. It didn’t come easy. Nothing comes easy. I was very excited to win. I wasn’t looking forward to it. I was just looking forward to playing. Everything just kind of came together.”
 
North Carolina A&T State was ranked No. 14 in the FCS entering the 2018 season after claiming the 2017 Black College National Champion with a 12-0 record. Jacksonville State was No. 6 in the rankings and had a 41-game regular-season winning streak against FCS opponents that dated back to Nov. 16, 2013.
 
All of that went out the window when Johnson got to Cooper.
 
Johnson continued making plays for the Aggies for the remainder of the season. His 18.5 tackles for loss also led the MEAC and was No. 10 in the FCS.
 
“I pride myself in making plays and being the person to step up and make a play,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of playmakers on our team. It’s a great feeling to make plays and be the guy depended on to make plays.”
 
As an encore to his game-saving strip sack against Jacksonville State, Johnson had seven tackles and a sack the following week as the Aggies defeated FBS opponent East Carolina 28-23.
 
Johnson’s finest overall performance of the 2018 season came against Savannah State, when he made eight tackles, had 3.5 tackles for loss and one sack. He finished the season with 47 tackles (29 unassisted), seven quarterback hurries, three pass breakups and one fumble recovery.
 
Johnson is in line to add to his trophy collection. He is a finalist for the Black College Football Player of the Year Deacon Jones Trophy that is presented by the Black College Football Hall of Fame, and the Buck Buchanan Award that goes to the FCS Defensive Player of the Year that is presented by FCS STATS.
 
No one could have guessed that Johnson would be in line for any sort of award when North Carolina A&T State signed him in 2016. He was undersized at 205 pounds with questionable strength for his position, and the Aggies were the only program that recruited him. Georgia Southern, the school where his father, Darryl Johnson Sr., once played running back offered him an opportunity to be a preferred walk-on, and a few Division II programs offered him partial scholarships.
 
Johnson sat and watched as his teammates signed scholarship offers, and experience that could have shaken his confidence in his ability and to question his talent.
 
“As a matter of fact, it boosted my confidence,” he said. “I’m just happy A&T reached out to me and gave me an opportunity to play ball. That (experience) put a chip on my shoulder, them being the only school to offer me. It made me want to work and be great.
 
“Every kid’s dream is play at an FBS school. I always wanted to be at Georgia or one of those big schools. But I’m in the best position at A&T; God put me in the best position here at A&T. Everything worked out great for me. It was very disappointing. But everything happens for a reason.”
 
Johnson’s story sounds eerily like that of Chicago Bears second-year running back Tarik Cohen. Like Johnson, Cohen only had one school to offer him a scholarship.
 
That school was North Carolina A&T State.
 
“Tarik exploded,” Johnson said. “He had that ambition. He wanted to prove (that he could play) to everybody that turned him down or never looked at him. That’s what made him work more. That’s why he was a great player here at A&T. I’m trying to be like that. Tarik Cohen did great things for this program. I’m trying to follow in his footsteps. I feel like me and him are going through the same thing. I want to prove everybody wrong who turned me down when I tried to reach out to them. I want to make them regret every bit of it.”
 
Johnson, who redshirted his freshman season, dedicated himself to getting bigger, stronger and faster when he arrived at North Carolina A&T State. He bulked up to 232 pounds and improved his time in the 40-yard dash to 4.7 seconds. He was already 6-foot-5 with a 103-inch wingspan; combine those measurable statistics with his insatiable appetite to improve his skills and his passion for rushing passers, and what you have is a quarterback’s worst nightmare.
 
“Sacking the quarterback is the best feeling,” Johnson said. “That’s why I play the game – to get after the quarterback. I love that. That’s every defensive lineman’s dream, to get to the quarterback. It’s a dislike. In practice, we’re not allowed to tackle the quarterback. During the game against the opponent, that’s the only time we can tackle the quarterback.”
 
Johnson is dedicated to the proposition of creating opportunities to take down quarterback on a regular basis come game day. However, opposing quarterbacks aren’t the only object of his disdain. Offensive linemen also have a special place in his heart.
 
“When I’m on the field, I’m nobody’s friend,” he said. “You put him in front of me, I’m going to try to do what I do – make a play. I don’t like those guys on the other side of the ball when I’m on the field.”
 
Johnson’s pass-rushing role models are two of the NFL’s top current sack masters: Bears’ linebacker Khalil Mack and Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who each has an NFL Defensive Player of Year Award to his credit.
 
“I love Khalil Mack,” he said. “I love how he gets after the quarterback. I just like how he plays football. Aaron Donald isn’t an edge rusher, but he works a lot of moves that I like and try to work on.”
 
Johnson is clearly the top pass rusher in the MEAC and among the tops in college football. But he isn’t resting on his laurels.
 
“I still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “I’m not satisfied. I have a lot of work to do. I need to work on my hands. I don’t want to be just a speed rusher off the edge. I want to work moves too. I don’t want people to say, ‘Yeah, he’s just fast.’ I want to be better than that. I want to work on a lot more moves.”
 
That’s why Johnson is one of those athletes who is among the first to arrive at practice and always stays after practice, even it’s only for five minutes, as he tries to add to his repertoire.
 
“He is one of those guys who is willing to put in the extra time and give the extra effort and do the little things to be special,” said Aggies head coach Sam Washington. “That is what separates him from the rest. It doesn’t hurt that he is also very athletic and can run, run. He has the attributes every coach dreams of.”
 
And a pass rushing terror that keeps quarterbacks awake at night.