At 6-foot, 225 pounds, Johnson ran for 2,779 yards and 30 touchdowns in three seasons at Iowa, where was named the Big Ten Running Back of the Year and a consensus All-American last fall.
He was No. 44 overall in pre-draft rankings from The Athletic, No. 57 according to Pro Football Focus and ranked No. 64 by ESPN.
Johnson ran for 1,002 yards in eight games as a senior for the Big Blue and made the All-GMC first team in 2021.
He was among a group of about a dozen players from area high schools to enter the weekend with hopes of being drafted or at least signing with an NFL team by the end of the weekend.
Johnson is the first player from Hamilton High School to be taken in the NFL Draft since Brandon Underwood, a defensive back who played at Ohio State and Cincinnati before the Green Bay Packers chose him in the sixth round in 2009.
The last Big Blue alumnus to play in the league was offensive lineman Adam Pankey (West Virginia), who spent time with the Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins from 2017-21.
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