Biggest risers from the 2022 college all-star events:

Florida State edge rusher Jermaine Johnson

EDGE Jermaine Johnson II, Florida State

Back in 2019, this was the number one overall JUCO recruit, yet Johnson only saw time as a rotational player for that loaded Georgia defense and decided to transfer to Florida State ahead of this past season, where he turned those flashes he had shown (four sacks and five TFLs) in seven games in 2020, into every-week dominance, as he was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, thanks to 17.5 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, a couple of PBUs and forced fumbles each and a scoop-and-score.

So unlike some of the under-the-radar invites we saw Jim Nagy’s group hit, Johnson’s talent was already highly regarded coming into Senior Bowl week, but he put on one of the most dominant displays I’ve ever seen since Aaron Donald probably. In one-on-one pass-rush drills, you saw him win repeatedly, converting speed to power, forcing tackles to open up their hips and then going through their chest. He also showed off a nasty spin move (even though he stumbled a little bit) against Louisiana offensive tackle Max Mitchell on Tuesday. He was even more impressive on day two; however, he flattened poor Mitchell on the very first rep of one-on-ones and later roasted Tulsa’s Chris Paul at tackle with an instant win on an up-and-under, perfectly paired with a swim maneuver.

Johnson came down to Mobile to whoop ass for two straight days, basically winning every single rep in those direct matchups in decisive fashion, and in a variety of ways, where his combination of length, power, speed and technique was just too much for opponents. His ability to dig into that arsenal of moves and consistently win with his primary approach was highly impressive to watch. And after beating up everybody for those two practice sessions, I’m sure his agent called him to come back home because there was nothing else he could have proved. I haven’t heard a thing about why he, otherwise, wouldn’t have participated Thursday or in the actual game.

Standing at 6’4”, 260 pounds, with a condor-like 83-inch wingspan and likely jumping out of the gym a couple of weeks from now at the combine, considering the explosiveness he’s shown out of his stance, it’s not like Johnson elevated himself by a couple of rounds with his performance down in Mobile, but he’s gone from a fringe-first rounder to a fixture in every mock draft. And we see this every year, where a team falls in love with a high-upside guy like this and he ends up going in the top-20.