Cornelius Johnson, Former Michigan Wide Receiver

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As well as the spacious Palisade. Enjoy wherever you go with the peace of mind that comes with America's best warranty and 3 years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance. But hurry in. These deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Now get 0% APR or up to 1,500 bonus cash on the Hyundai Tucson. Now during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Offers end soon. Call 562-314-4603 for details. Let's welcome international champion wide receiver at Michigan getting set for the NFL Draft that's going to come your way at the end of April.

Be very curious to see where this man is going to land. And that, of course, is Cornelius Johnson, who's kind enough to join us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Cornelius, first off, thanks so much for doing this. How you been? Thank you for having me, Zach. Nice to meet you. Nice to be here for today. Yeah.

Thanks so much for coming on. So how do you kind of look back at last season, first and foremost, the final year at Michigan? We know you guys end up winning the national championship. When you look back a few months away from that national championship game, just what are the memories that come to mind? Yeah, man, it was a quick turnaround, but I was glad to be able to go out like that with my teammates.

You know, there's no better way for the last college game could be that national championship win. And all we put in through the years before that and then leading up to that offseason and putting it all together for the win was huge for me and my teammates. And what really stood out to me with this team was how selfless you guys were as a group. Like, I know as a wide receiver, there was probably times you were like, all right, I hope coach would just let JJ throw the ball a little bit more.

But we know how dominant Blake Corum is. And you saw what Donovan Edwards could do in the biggest game of the season. We all remember the Penn State game right in the second half. It was just run, run, run. What I love so much about this team is you guys were willing to do whatever it did take to win.

You guys kind of checked the ego at the door. Yeah, that's a good point, especially as a wide receiver, you know, going going into some of those games where it was majority run game. It's like sort of balances your mindset because as a receiver, you want those targets, you want to run routes and show what you can do.

But you can also reduce. You can do the blocking game in the running game to also attack defense as well. So just doing whatever we could, you know, and just being ready once that ball did come our way.

You know, the run can open up the play action and open up the passing and drop that game. So that helped us to You guys were knocking on the door the last few years, right? You beat Ohio State back to back years. You went back to back Big Ten championships and then going into this season, you knew it was national championship or bus. Did you kind of get a sense with a little bit of an older team that this was with all the hardball rumors of him leaving as well, which now we know he's the coach of the Chargers, that this season kind of felt a little bit like a last dance kind of vibe that that we all saw during the pandemic. Yeah, I guess like you never really know till till, you know, you know, I mean with Coach Harbaugh.

So we never really knew until it's finalized that he was leaving. But in terms of everything else, we definitely had that mindset of man, it's championship or bus. You know, we got to be beat that team down south and then, you know, when Indianapolis and then go on to get our final goals of finally winning that college football playoff game, which we were able to do in Pasadena. And then that led us to the national championship game.

So we were able to check off all those boxes and like that's something we set out the very beginning of the year, like a year ago today almost. Yeah, no disrespect to Washington. We know Kalen DeBoer who was the coach there is phenomenal.

Michael Pennix Jr. Roma Doonze as well. But man, that Rose Bowl game and just the back and forth of the game and some of the mistakes that you guys made. And then you get the touchdown in overtime. The defense makes a big play with that setting and the history of college football. That had to be maybe the coolest game you ever played in, right?

Yeah, that overall was like it just felt, looking back on it, I don't know if it felt long or if it like flew by, but like something about it was just hitting different. And then obviously like that, it all starts with the Ohio State game, you know, wouldn't got there without that. Those are like two closest games with them, with Bama and O State. So they gave us a good fight and then, you know, we were to come out in overtime, which is one of the craziest finishes.

And that game is going to be rewatched so many times in history. Talking to Cornelius Johnson right now, we touched on it a little bit, how run first you guys were as a team. But going back to 2021, you had a season that started to catch some people by surprise with your production on the field. So I know a lot of people now, they're going to look at the stats and they're going to say, why should I draft Cornelius Johnson?

What is the answer? What do you think your potential can be and what you could bring to an NFL team coming up in a few weeks when the draft gets underway? That's a great question. I mean, people look at me as a prospect, like all these teams got to look at all the film. I'm sure that they're doing their research, trying to figure out scrambling, who to pick, who to look at, who to sign.

When they come across me, they're going to get a winner. Someone who's ready the first day, knowing all the plays, be able to play. They think I'm just an outside receiver, could play slot two, I could run, got 4-4-4 speed, could pull by defense and run those short, choppy routes too. So you need to get a complete receiver who's willing to also play special teams, do what he can do, pawn off the field too in the community.

Just do whatever it takes to win, help a franchise right away. And that's what I'm looking forward to bringing to an organization and why somebody should draft me ultimately to get a winner and a reliable fast player. Just wondering, how much of an inspiration was seeing the player that Nikko Collins has developed into? And we know he was a Michigan man. How much of an inspiration with what Nikko did this past year?

Does that kind of just get you going a little bit? Yeah, that's definitely very inspirational to see him coming from our receiver room in Ann Arbor to go out onto the NFL stage and continue doing what he does best. Definitely very inspirational to all the rest of the receivers, Michigan receivers and just friends of his too. To be able to do great things and sort of like what you touched on earlier, looking at the stats, you can look at all the numbers back when he was playing here. If you look at the numbers, that can sometimes alter your perception of it. But you really just got to look back at the game film and see how the games actually played out and how dominant he was when the ball did come his way and what he was able to do. I guess you can't always look at stats. Whoever has the best stats is going to get drafted highest.

It doesn't always work out like that. It's both ways to it and ultimately just trying to figure out where you fit in and do what you can do for the team. So let me get to your quarterback in JJ McCarthy as Cornelius Johnson is here with us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. I think he's the most polarizing prospect in the draft. 50% of the people will say, alrighty, I believe in JJ. I think JJ could be a great quarterback. The other 50% will just say that they didn't see it from a stat perspective in college and how much you guys did run the ball as well. What is a team getting in JJ McCarthy and how do you think his game will translate to the NFL? In terms of being polarizing, fans can say whatever they want, but I think he's proved what he can do on the field.

He's going to continue to do that throughout the workouts and throughout camp and whoever gets him is going to have a great quarterback. How about Roman Wilson? Go ahead. Sorry, I cut you off there.

My bad. I was saying in terms of Roman too, all the stats and stuff, we were talking about earlier. If we want to sit here and talk about stats, we can do that. But I think watching the film and seeing what our guys can do, you could be surprised by if you really study the game and watch our receivers getting open, our quarterbacks completing passes. It's something we do here very consistently in Ann Arbor and we're looking forward to keeping that going through the pro days and through the workouts, leading up to camp and wherever we go in our futures.

But definitely with Roman too, another great receiver who's going to surprise a lot of people. Do you kind of laugh at all the conversation? Because you guys did what you did in college. It was an unbelievable run. It was a great run. And now everyone breaks you down and they throw you underneath the magnifying glass, the microscope, and they dissect every part of your game leading up to this draft. The conversation about JJ and what it's turned into, do you kind of just laugh at the entire thing?

At some point, it does get funny. You just got to laugh and smile through it all because there's going to be so many highs and lows throughout the game of football, throughout life in general. And you're just trying to ride around and keep your head focused on what you want, what you think is most important.

Millions of people could have all these opinions about you or your friends, but ultimately what matters is what you go out there and do and how you're enjoying yourself. So yeah, you're going to get dissected. You're going to get looked at, scrutinized. That's what it was like at the combine. That's what it's going to continue to be, even what it was like at Michigan, playing under a hundred thousands of people, millions of viewers.

There's going to be people watching your every move, but you just got to roll with it and embrace it. That's the fun part. Wrap it up with Cornelius Johnson. When Jim Harbaugh left Michigan and made his announcement that he was going to be taking over the Los Angeles Chargers.

How'd you process that one? That was crazy because it was funny how he went, he went from the Maize and Blue to another Maize and Blue team. So he's going out there out west and right where we were at in Pasadena, right in that same area. So he's going to be used to it, but I'm happy for him. I'm happy for his, his staff to be able to get that situation for them.

And I'm excited to see how it plays out. You know, Chargers have always been one of my favorite teams. I liked them a lot when they were in San Diego with these comments that Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates, rolls, Jackson, all those guys.

I was some of my favorites growing up. So to see him coaching there, it's like almost surreal in a way, but I'm excited for him for sure. On the way out with Cornelius Johnson, what does Sharone Moore bring? You know, obviously people know who he is. They saw all the emotion he had after the Penn State game and the admirable job that he did. But Sharone Moore is the next Michigan head coach.

What kind of emotion does that elicit from you? I'm happy for him as well. Same thing as Coach Harbaugh. You know, Coach Harbaugh put on Coach Moore, you know, put him on, showed him the ways of being a head coach. That's going to be a big jump for him to be the head coach of Michigan football.

Like, that's a big deal. He's ready for it. I know he's going to lead those boys and do what he's got to do.

You know, there's goals that they set and goals they're going to accomplish, and I'm excited to be able to watch those boys. Last thing I'll ask you, Cornelius Johnson, is there a receiver or two that used to be in the NFL or is in the NFL right now that you kind of say, OK, I could see myself being that type of wide receiver in the NFL? Yeah, one of my favorites is, like, Antonio Brown. I know he's had that controversy off the field. I avoid that as much as I can, but love his game in between the lines. Smaller receiver, though. But he's able to run every route. Surprised a lot of people. People are thinking he was slow, but he don't play slow at all.

I like Antonio Brown's game, and then sometimes I like that mindset of, like, Dez Bryant just doing whatever it takes to catch the ball and then throw up the X. There you go. He's Cornelius Johnson. Cornelius, thanks so much for doing this. Good luck the rest of the way. Thanks so much. Thank you, Zach.

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