His performances for the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, and Tennessee Titans earned him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Yet, while his enshrinement on Saturday is the final resting place for his professional career, it was Andre Johnson’s college endeavors for the Miami Hurricanes that established him as a truly dominant wide receiver and led to his PFHOF journey.
Andre Johnson Was a Truly Dominant College Football Wide Receiver
1,062 receptions. 14,185 receiving yards. 70 touchdowns. 13.4 yards per catch. The professional statistics tell the story of Johnson’s worthiness for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His NFL journey is well-documented, his place among the greats assured. As impressive as those numbers are, however, his performances for the powerhouse Hurricanes were somehow better.
He may have only played two full seasons of a four-year career for the Hurricanes, but Johnson’s college career at Miami was a work of art. A man for the most important occasion, he showed up and showed out when it mattered most. Measuring in at 6’3″ and 220 pounds, he was truly the big man for the biggest occasions.
And by biggest, we mean the biggest.
Occasions like the 2002 Rose Bowl, the culmination of the 2001 college football season and his first as a full-time starter for the Hurricanes. Facing the Nebraska Cornhuskers with a national championship on the line, Johnson rocketed into the consciousness of college football fans with an otherworldly 199-yard, two-touchdown game that earned Miami their fifth title.
It was a performance that earned him co-MVP honors of the Rose Bowl game, showcased to the world his big-play potential, and proved a catalyst to a junior season that would see him set career highs of 52 receptions, 1092 receiving yards, and nine touchdowns with a remarkable — and nation-leading — 21.0 yards per catch, resulting in the third overall draft selection.
Johnson’s college career may have taken two seasons — a redshirt in 1999 and three receptions in 2000 — to get going, but it should never have been in doubt.
He arrived in Miami as one of the most heralded high school recruits in the 1999 class. An All-American viewed as a top-100 player by the major recruiting sites, Johnson had showcased his devastating football potential as a receiver and kick returner for Miami Senior High School.
More than a dominant football player with electric potential, Johnson arrived in college as a freak athlete who would have been lauded in the modern era of college football. He reportedly ran a 4.4 seconds 40-yard dash coming out of high school, with a 35″ vertical leap that spoke to his explosive ability. Those numbers were confirmed at the 2003 NFL Combine.
When he left the program in at the end of the 2002 season, he ranked fifth in Miami history for career receiving yards and tied-third for touchdown receptions. Johnson’s college career set the standard for every Hurricanes receiver to come, and ultimately paved the path to his enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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