Jarret Johnson entered his senior year at the University of Alabama with a clear goal: surpass the sack total of nine that he’d set a year before.
The year was 2002, and he had emerged as one of the most prolific linebackers in the SEC. Johnson remained confident in his abilities but was still sure to keep tabs on his peers heading into the following spring’s NFL Draft. As he surveyed the college football landscape, a name came to his attention for the first time.
“I remember watching the national sack totals, and there’s this name, this Suggs guy, who was just putting up ridiculous numbers,” Johnson recalled on Glenn Clark Radio Oct. 19. “As a junior, he had 24 sacks in a season, which is just unheard of. I remember looking at it thinking, ‘Is this a typo? There’s no way this is right.'”
Terrell Suggs, the player in question, was inducted into the Ravens Ring of Honor at halftime of the Oct. 22 Ravens-Lions game. The former top prospect parlayed his selection at No. 10 overall into winning Rookie of the Year in 2003, Defensive Player of the Year in 2011 and a Super Bowl ring in 2012 as part of his legendary 16-year run in Baltimore.
Johnson, his draft class mate and fellow outside linebacker of nine years, observed Suggs’ ascension as a leader of the lauded Ravens defense from up close.
“Our first minicamp, we were roommates together, and my first impression of him was how calm he was and how comfortable he was around the vets,” Johnson said. “Whereas I was a nervous wreck, just fighting for my life, trying to make a name for myself, this guy came in, fun-loving attitude, great to be around. He was like a big kid, kind of silly. But when it came to football, he was one of the first premier, top-tier, God-given athletes I had ever been around.”
That goofy attitude manifested itself in golf cart joy rides and photobombing locker room interviews, but Suggs’ game face was just as drastic in the other direction.
Johnson called Suggs one of the more complete players he had seen due to the versatility and broad set of defensive skills he had first flashed along the defensive line at Arizona State and developed in Baltimore. Suggs would eventually outgrow the prized draft pick label, succeeding in his role before answering the leadership call in the 2010s.
“He came into the league built as a pass rusher,” Johnson said. “When you watched him play at Arizona State … he was so wide, he was almost outside of the frame of the game film coming off that edge. That’s what he did. He was an up-the-field pass rusher. That’s what he came in as. What made him great is the ability to take that skill set that he had, that dominance that he had, but then adapt to become really good in the pass-rushing game, become really good in the run-stopping game, being able to run blitz packages.”
Johnson departed Baltimore for San Diego after 2011, but stayed just long enough to catch Suggs’ career year. The star jack-of-all-trades defender forced 14 sacks and a league-leading seven forced fumbles in taking home his lone Defensive Player of the Year award.
“Early on, he was just able to focus on his play and not have to worry about being the face of the franchise because we already had that. We had two or three guys that you could call the face of the franchise,” Johnson said. “Over his career, especially after I left and Ray [Lewis] retired, he became that guy. He became the voice, the leader, the veteran.”
He took the mantle of leader of the Baltimore defense from stars Lewis and Ed Reed, but now joins them in the club’s Ring of Honor as this year’s newest addition.
“Unbelievable player to be around,” Johnson summarized.
For more from Johnson, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox