The return of the NCAA Football video game is scheduled for next summer, giving us the perfect opportunity to highlight some of the players who didn’t get a chance to appear in the series during the intermission.
Thanks to a rating system of individualized college player ratings we covered on the Rock Chalk Podcast, we can correct that oversight. This assessment combines their base talent level with their actual college production to get an overall picture of their performance.
A reminder that our Video Game All-Stars series will look at recent Kansas players who played well in Kansas, but never got the chance to be captured with a virtual version of themselves. We’ll look back at their careers and include a projection of what their overall rating would have been if the games had been around.
Our streak ends today, and it was fitting that the best player in defense from last season to finish his career and get called up would be our last player here. That’s right, we emphasize EDGE Kyron Johnson.
With two players to cover, we’ll take a quick look at both of these players before we get into the reviews.
Other Player Spotlights in this series:
Daniel Wise
Mike Lee
Joe Dineen
Andrew Parchment
Pooka Williams
Hasan Defense
Dorance Armstrong
Bryce Torneden
Hakeem Adenijic
Reader’s Choice: Steven Sims and Fish Smithson
Recruit organic
A 6’1″, 188-pound outside line backer from Lamar High School in Arlington, TX, Johnson was a lightly recruited high school player who impressed the Kansas coaches with his blazing speed.
He originally came to Kansas as an early high school graduate, which gave him an edge over the rest of the members of his recruiting class. And he made an early impression with his speed and awareness at the linebacker position. He committed to the Jayhawks because of another offer from SMU.
Production in Kansas
| Season | Games played | Total tackles | Solo Tackles | Tackle for loss | to fail | Pass defended | Fumbles Forced | Fumbles fixed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2017 |
8 |
15 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
2018 |
10 |
18 |
12 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
2019 |
12 |
55 |
36 |
5.5 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
2020 |
9 |
42 |
27 |
4.5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
2021 |
12 |
63 |
41 |
8.5 |
6.5 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
Johnson started his first season on the special teams, playing in a limited role in 8 games. But he jumped in as a sophomore and immediately started making a big impact.
Johnson’s versatility was evident early in his career as he played big minutes in a myriad of roles, both as a linebacker in 3-4 sets and then as a lineman in 4-3 sets. And he continued to get better the more he played, with by far his best season of his super senior year coming in 2021.
best game
This was actually hard to pick as I’m sure there’s one game that everyone remembers from his career, both because of the recent period and because of the huge progress he’s made in that game. But the second one to highlight was a lot harder to find, in part because his best games saw huge losses or because he made an impact in ways that weren’t necessarily on the stats.
September 10, 2021: 49-22 loss at #17 Coastal Carolina
Stat line: 7 total tackles, 5 solo tackles, 0.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery.
This game was a struggle towards the end, but Johnson led a solid defensive effort in the first half that kept the game from getting out of hand early on. He jumped on a fumble forced by Malcolm Lee deep into Kansas territory, and a late score in the first half gave the Jayhawks a chance to be at it early in the second half.
Unfortunately, Coastal Carolina’s attack was too good with too many options, and the Chanticleers were able to bypass Johnson and the rest of the Kansas defenses.
Nov 13, 2021: 57-56 OT Win in Texas
Stat line: 8 total tackles, 6 solo tackles, 2 sacks, 2 fumbles, 1 fumble recovery
Johnson was a force in this match, putting pressure on both Casey Thompson and Hudson Card early on. Every Texas quarterback fumbled after being fired by Johnson, and Texas struggled to get things going early.
While Texas could adapt from Johnson for good parts of this game, he was always a threat enough to open things up to everyone too.
After Kansas
Johnson was drafted 181st overall by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 6th round of the 2022 NFL Draft. They traded to make sure they could select him.
Early indications are that Johnson is expected to be an immediate impact player on special teams. He will also have the opportunity to contribute to the defense as a rotational player.
Video game rating
Basic Rating: 77
Production Bonus: 30
Overall rating: 100
Johnson was rated fairly well when he came out of school, giving him a good base score to build on. He could shine on the field, which gave him no less than 30 production points. Unfortunately for him, the rating system tops out at 100. But it’s fair to say that Johnson has been a standout player for Kansas in multiple positions throughout his career, and he rightly has the highest video game rating of the entire bump.
While the ratings we have aren’t broken down into the individual traits you’d normally see in a game like the Madden series, it’s possible to guess which traits would be the highest. His blazing fast speed both out of high school and throughout his career would make that an easy choice. I will deftly continue as the second as he has shown the ability to use his hand positioning and quick reflexes to redirect the opposing lineman’s offensive lineman.
A reminder that our video game ratings are provided by CFB Winning Edge, an independent retail outlet that focuses on college football analytics and has developed team, player and coach ratings based on a wide range of current and historical data.
Patreon supporters have access to their FBS team profiles, which contain ratings for more than 11,000 individual players across all 131 FBS teams, as well as ratings for each head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, and the strength of schedule stats. In addition to statistics, recruiting data, injury reports, and player movement information, they also provide three sets of projected point spreads for each FBS game based on separate projection models, as well as projected win totals.
You can find out more about what they offer by visiting their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CFBWinningEdge
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