COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Barely on anyone’s draft radar ahead of Maryland Pro Day, Terps running back Ty Johnson took matters into his own hands March 27 and impressed the NFL scouts that flocked to College Park.
Actually, it was Johnson’s legs, not hands, that had the 5-foot-10, 210-pound senior from Cumberland, Md., turning heads on Wednesday before some tightness in his hamstring cut his day a little short. Official 40-yard dash times from Maryland’s pro day were not released to the media, but Johnson unofficially ran a sub-4.4 seconds 40 time and some in attendance reported unofficial times as low as 4.26 seconds. Johnson told reporters after running he had been lasered at 4.33 seconds while training at XPE Sports down in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and that he wasn’t surprised at his impressive time.
“I came here ready to run and was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to run fast today,’” Johnson said. “I was telling everybody that. I didn’t tell the scouts or anything like that about what I was running down in Fort Lauderdale, but I was like, ‘I’m running fast.’”
Johnson, who said he was weighing about 215-to-217 pounds before slimming down to about 210 for pro day, also recorded an impressive 27 reps on the bench press, which would have been good for second at his position at the NFL Scouting Combine that he wasn’t invited to back in February. There was also no running back at the combine in Indianapolis that ran a sub-4.4 40-yard dash like Johnson just did.
But Johnson didn’t let being snubbed by the NFL for its combine derail his pre-draft process. He continued to train and knew he’d get his chance to show what he can do at pro day.
“Just work, that’s all you can do,” Johnson said. “You can’t be so hurt about [not being invited to the combine] that you take your eyes off of the prize.”
As a senior, Johnson’s season was cut short by a calf injury, but he started in all nine games he appeared in and still was able to cement himself in some of Maryland’s record books before finishing his career with the Terps.
During his final season in College Park, Johnson became the fourth player in Maryland history to surpass 4,000 all-purpose yards, joining Stefon Diggs, Torrey Smith and LaMont Jordan. He is one of four players in Terps history to record at least 10 100-yard rushing games in their career. Ranking fourth all-time for Maryland in career rushing yards (2,635) and career kick return yards (1,194), Johnson has proven he can get it done on offense and special teams and is leaving College Park third on the career all-purpose yards list (4,196). He has also been known to make gritty tackles on kickoff and punt coverage.
“I do a little bit of everything,” Johnson said.
As someone who has set rushing records for the Terps and also returned kickoffs for touchdowns at both “The Big House” and “The Horseshoe,” Johnson is hoping NFL scouts will view him for his body of work and his overall versatility as a player.
“I’m adaptable, that’s what I tell [scouts] all of the time, just because of so many coaches I’ve had,” Johnson said. “That’s something I’m more proud of than my speed and everything. I’ve had four different head coaches, four different running back coaches, three offenses. And I’ve had success in all of those. That’s definitely my biggest thing. If you put me in a new system, I’m going to learn and I’m going to execute. So that’s my most prideful thing when I sell myself to them, and the fact that I play special team. I’m like, ‘Hey, you don’t see the starting running back playing special teams, making tackles on a punt.’ I’m definitely prideful of those two things.”
Johnson is also proud of where he’s from. Western Maryland isn’t known as a hotbed of athletic talent, and it was hard enough for Johnson to even get noticed by college recruiters when he was coming out of Fort Hill High School, let alone by NFL scouts after never being a “workhorse” running back for the Terps.
But Johnson is motivated by making a name for himself and putting his hometown on the map.
“There’s definitely that sense of pride and putting [Cumberland] on the map and being the first one in probably many, many years to be able to have this opportunity,” Johnson said. “It’s definitely one of those things I’m proud of.”
Johnson had to be patient when it came to his college recruiting process, and now he’s tapping into many of those same virtues as we awaits NFL scouts to take notice.
Earning respect from those at the next level is a familiar feeling to Johnson, but getting vetted by the pros has been an even more rigorous process than what he went through in high school.
“It’s worse than high school (recruiting); I can tell you that much,” Johnson said. “I thought it was going to be easier, but I’ll tell you what like at the East-West Shrine Game when you’re meeting scouts and they keep you up until like 12 a.m. just talking to you, it’s like man, I’ve never had to sell myself so much to so many people in a short amount of time. It’s definitely more intense than high school. I’m not knocking high school (recruiting). That was really tough too, but this one is really intense because this is what you’re trying to do for a career, for a job, something you do every day.”
After his impressive pro day, Johnson is sure to have some NFL teams start to sniff around. He’s keeping his meetings close to the vest for now, but don’t be surprised to see the Terps running back on an NFL roster next season.
“I’ve talked to some scouts,” Johnson said. “I have some individual workouts coming up. I’m going to keep that confidential though. Hopefully after today we get a few more.”
