Cats continue to fortify D-line with addition of grad transfer Ryan Johnson

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Northwestern further fortified its defensive front on Saturday when former Stanford defensive tackle Ryan Johnson announced his commitment to the Wildcats as a grad transfer.

Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 280-pounder, played five years at Stanford and has one year of eligibility left as he takes advantage of his "free" COVID year of 2020.

He is the third defensive line transfer to join the Wildcat program this month, joining Taishan Holmes from UMass and Henrik Barndt from Indiana State.

Johnson was a rotational player for the Cardinal and is coming off of his best season in 2021. As a fifth-year senior he played in all 12 games, with four starts, and made 16 tackles, along with half of a TFL. .

For his career, Johnson played in 32 games and made 26 total tackles. He redshirted in 2017, was in and out of the lineup in 2018 and 2019, and played in all 18 games over the last two years.

Northwestern has made the defensive line a priority in the transfer portal after allowing 214.3 yards per game on the ground in 2021, a number that ranked last in the Big Ten and 119th in the country in rushing defense. The Wildcats often had trouble holding the point of attack on the interior, and lacked size at defensive tackle in particular.

With Barndt, Holmes and now Johnson, that need has been addressed; at least on paper. Together, those three add a combined 880 pounds and 15 years of college football experience to the defensive line room.

The Wildcats lost four members of its defensive tackle rotation since the end of the 2021 season. Trevor Kent, Jeremy Meiser and Joe Spivak, who all started games and got the majority of snaps for the Wildcats, have all graduated. That trio accounted for 57 of the 63 tackles posted by defensive tackles last season.

Sophomore Te-Rah Edwards, who didn't see much action last season while the unit struggled, also decided to transfer to Illinois.

Northwestern is bringing in two incoming freshman defensive tackles in Austin Firestone and Brendan Flakes, but there was still a clear need for experience and size at the position.

Johnson played defensive end in Stanford’s 3-4 alignment and will likely move inside to defensive tackle in the Wildcats' 4-3 system. However, more and more signs are pointing to Northwestern adopting a three-man front at least part of the time in 2022, in which case Johnson could remain at end.

Either way, Johnson figures to bolster a defense that saw a precipitous drop in its performance from 2020 to 2021, falling from fifth to 89th in the nation in scoring defense, as their points allowed almost doubled from 15.3 to 29.0 points per game.