50 greatest college football players this century, ranked
Calvin Johnson (21) of Georgia Tech (Photo by Greg Drzazgowski /Icon SMI/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images)
- Fred Biletnikoff Award (2006)
- Consensus All-American (2006)
- ACC Player of the Year & Offensive Player of the Year (2006)
- 3x First-team All-ACC (2004, 2005, 2006)
At 6-foot-5, 220-pounds, Johnson was one of the most physically gifted players in the history of college or professional football. If he’d decided to play at Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, or really any school with a serviceable quarterback and a coach other than Chan Gailey, he’d probably hold several unbreakable NCAA receiving records. Because he grew up 30 minutes from Atlanta and was interested in a degree in Management with a focus on Engineering/Construction, he chose Georgia Tech.
His quarterback for all three seasons as a Yellow Jacket was Reggie Ball, who had a career completion percentage of 48.6-percent and threw 57 touchdowns to 55 interceptions over the span of his four years. In spite of Ball and the lack of offensive weapons around him, Johnson put up very respectable numbers in all three seasons. As a freshman, he caught 48 passes for 837 yard and seven touchdowns, 54 for 888 yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore and capped his career with 76 catches for 1,202 yards and 15 touchdowns.
He was named First-team All-ACC in all three seasons and was an All-American in 2006 as a junior. Johnson finished his career with 2,927 receiving yards and 28 touchdowns, both of which are school records that still stand. Although he was basically a one-man offense and finished his college career with a 23-14 win/loss record, it didn’t hurt him too much. He still has some of the craziest highlight-reel catches of the last 20 years and he was taken second overall in the 2007 NFL draft.
Key Stat: Johnson had 13 100-plus receiving yard games in his career. Georgia Tech was 7-6 in those games.