GRCCs Johnson coming off a big year

One of the surprising performances in the Junior College ranks this past season was that of Grand Rapids (Mich.) Community College, under first year head coach Tony Annese. The Raiders finished the season 10-1, and one of the catalysts to their success on defense was first year defensive end Carlton Johnson.

The 6-3, 240-pound Johnson actually played for Annese at Muskegon High before following him over to GRCC. In his first year with the Raiders, Johnson accumulated 40 tackles, including 12 tackles for loss and nine sacks. He finished out the season by earning Defensive MVP honors for his play in the bowl game against Snow College.

Now, Johnson is looking to translate his first year success at GRCC into attention from college coaches. So far he has had little contact himself with schools, and is not sure how much interest his coach has received on his behalf.

"If there is [interest], I don't know about it," Johnson said. "They told me something about Central [Michigan], but I don't know about that."

Still, Johnson has been keeping his eye on colleges that may suit his future college goals. One school that has caught his attention is Cincinnati.

"I like their campus," Johnson said of the Bearcats. "I went down on a recruiting trip and they showed us the campus and the stadium."

Johnson is currently working to be in a position to graduate from GRCC in December. In the meantime, he is preparing to improve upon his first year results by putting time in with weight training.

"They told me to put on weight so I can be D-1 and I've been getting bigger," Johnson said. "I was playing at 220 last year and I'm at 240 now."

Johnson runs a 4.6 40-yard dash and he also squats 490 pounds and bench presses over 300 pounds.