50 Most important Illini
No. 50 Ryan Johnson
Vitals:
Hometown:
High school:
Looking back at 2021: Johnson joined Illinois as a walk-on last summer from Division II Northern Michigan. He climbed to No. 3 on the depth chart ahead of the season and to the backup role when Art Sitkowski broke his left arm. That led to a single snap taken in the Illini’s win at Minnesota when Brandon Peters
- exited for one play after an injury timeout.
Looking ahead to 2022: Best-case scenario for Illinois when it comes to Johnson would be him not even receiving that single snap. Johnson should head into training camp back again as the Illini’s third-string quarterback behind Tommy DeVito
- and Sitkowski, but recent history has shown Illinois better have multiple quarterbacks ready just in case.
SCOTT RICHEY
Scott Richey is a reporter covering college basketball at The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).
