Everyday Champions: Master Builder

This story originally appeared in the summer 2021 issue of Everyday Champions magazine. You can read the entire issue HERE.

 

By Jon Cooper

College is a time when young men and women take the various parts of their lives and put them together to form a vision for the future.

Every aspect is another piece that completes the bigger picture. Football is one such piece for Ryan Johnson. It’s more than just a game.

In his first season on The Flats as a graduate transfer, the 6-6, 325-pound offensive lineman was named a captain and started all 10 games for the Yellow Jackets, helping a rushing attack that was fifth in the ACC and a pass-protection corps that ranked fourth in the league in fewest sacks allowed. This was while working to complete his second Master’s — and doing so virtually, due to the topsy-turvy world that was 2020.

“Obviously, 2020 was a very different year — not just because I was at a new school but because of Coved,” said the Brentwood, Tenn., native who chose Tech on Dec. 16, 2019 after attending the University of Tennessee from 2016-19. “Nonetheless, I loved it. There were a lot of ups and downs, but the experience that I’ve had over the past year has been amazing, to say the least.”

Johnson proved to the right man at the right time for the Jackets’ offensive line, not only in the film- and meeting room and on the field, but also in the classroom, earning Academic All-ACC honors while pursuing a master’s degree in analytics.

In an atypical year, Johnson showed his typical ability to adroitly put the pieces together and problem-solve.

“I enjoy building things. I enjoy the puzzle, I enjoy the creation of something new,” he said. “That’s why I started in engineering. That’s why I ended up getting a master’s in structural engineering after I finished civil (engineering).

“I think of the game of football as a puzzle,” he continued. “Who can outsmart the other person — whether that’s on the field with technique or on the chalkboard drawing up plays. I apply that the same way in the film room as in the classroom. It’s a puzzle.”

And if there’s one thing the 24-year-old loves, it’s a puzzle. He always has.

“When I was a kid, I used to take computers apart then put them back together,” Johnson recalled. “My parents operated a business, so about every six months their office would get rid of a computer, so I’d get the parts, and I’d put them together, and I’d reprogram them and I’d try to overclock them, all sorts of things like that. Occasionally I might have set parts of the carpet on fire, but that’s another story….”

On the field, Johnson had no problem solving opponents. While at Brentwood Academy, he helped the Eagles win the 2015 state championship and was teammates with “Big B,” Brandon Adams, who played at Georgia Tech for three years before his sudden passing on March 23, 2019.

If Georgia Tech had had its way, they would have teamed up in Atlanta. But Johnson chose to stay local. From 2017-19 (he redshirted as a true freshman in 2016), he appeared in all 36 games for the Vols, making 19 starts (18 in a row at one point) and playing five different positions, including tight end.

Ryan also excelled academically. He was a two-time academic all-district and four-time SEC Academic Honor Roll student, in graduating from the University of Tennessee’s civil engineering program in two and a half years, then needed only a little more than a year and a half to gain his master’s degree in structural engineering. In 2019, he was nominated for the Wuerffel Trophy, given to the college football player “who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.”

Prior to the 2020 season, Johnson was eager for a new challenge and entered the transfer portal. He made several visits — “I was in five, six cities in the matter of a couple of days. There’s a point where you forget what city you woke up in at that point,” he recalled, with a laugh.

But there was no confusion when it came to choosing Georgia Tech.

“It’s the people that make the difference. That’s why I came here,” he said. “(Head) Coach (Geoff) Collins, (assistant head coach/run game coordinator/offensive Line) Coach (Brent) Key, (strength and conditioning) Coach Lew (Caralla) were the people that I wanted to be around. Georgia Tech was an easy (choice) to make.

“Coach Key was one of the main reasons I came here — to be able to improve my game, improve my craft,” he added. “To be able to play for him and learn from him is an awesome experience that will help me further in my future in the game of football.”

“I was just honest — honest with him, honest with where I thought he was as a player and what I thought that he needed to do to improve his game,” Key recalled. “I came in with a plan and presented it to him and his family, and we moved forward from there.”

Moving ahead quickly doesn’t seem surprising. It seems like Johnson and Georgia Tech were meant to be.

He made his collegiate debut against the Yellow Jackets on Sept. 4, 2017, in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In that game, a dramatic 42-41 double-overtime Tennessee win, Johnson even lined up against Adams. It’s bittersweet now for Johnson to complete his college career where Adams made such an impact in his tragically short time.

“When I came to Georgia Tech, it was really cool because there’s actually a photo of me blocking Brandon at that game,” he said. “Brandon was recruited at the same time. He was in my class. To be able to play at the same school that he did, for me, it’s something really special.”

Johnson began making his own mark right away, serving as an experienced voice, becoming a team leader and, once the season began, anchoring right guard.

Key was especially impressed by Johnson’s ability to teach others what he’d just learned.

“The biggest compliment a teacher can be given is that their students will then teach that information back to someone else,” said Key, whose mother was a third-grade teacher. “That’s what he does. He’s able to take the information that we have and turn right around and teach it to the younger guys or anyone else in the room. He’s almost like a coach off the field.

“You come into a situation where you’re coming in for one season, you have to earn their respect,” he added. “He did that right away with his work ethic, knowledge of the game and his wanting to learn more. He’s very giving of his knowledge.”

“I’ve had a lot of experience in college football, so I tried to bring that knowledge to the team and help the guys that were around me to improve our team,” Johnson said. “Being able to help (freshman) Jordan (Williams) understand some of the ins and outs that you can only understand by playing the game for a long time was beneficial for both of us. There’s always something more that you can learn. That’s what really interests me about the game of football.”

That interest isn’t limited to football.

At Georgia Tech he found a new academic challenge for his voracious appetite for problem-solving — analytics.

“I wanted to branch out. I heard about Georgia Tech’s analytics program. It’s the ultimate puzzle-solving major,” he said. “You get the ability to look at large amounts of data, write a program and say, ‘How do I solve this problem with this?’ It’s really fun because all you have is a computer, and you have to solve a problem. You can do it any way you want. You don’t have to solve it in one programming language. It’s something that I enjoy doing. It’s really cool.”

Key sees a really cool future for Johnson be it in football, beginning Sept. 4 against Northern Illinois at Bobby Dodd Stadium, then in whatever field he chooses.

“I know it sounds cliché if you have success in one part of your life you’re going to have success in the others, but it truly is the case with him,” Key said. “He’s a perfectionist in all that he does, getting things done the right way to the minute detail. Whether he’s writing code on a computer or breaking down the opponent that we’re going to play, that’s Ryan Johnson. He’s going to be a perfectionist and do an unbelievable job.”

Johnson is one statistics class shy of completing his master’s in analytics, while on the field, he plans to take advantage of the grace year of eligibility the NCAA granted student-athletes after 2020’s Covid-interrupted season.

“I feel very thankful that the Georgia Tech community has accepted me and made me feel like I’m at home,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d ever be playing here when I was coming into college, but now that I’m here, I wouldn’t dream about ending it anywhere other than Georgia Tech. It’s been an incredible journey.”

Looks like a perfect ending.