Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Ty Johnson was born on September 17, 1997, in Cumberland, Maryland. He is a running back for the Detroit Lions of the NFL. He played college football at Maryland.

At Fort Hill High School, Johnson was a three-year varsity starter on defense, offense and special teams, finishing high school career with 4,851 all-purpose yards, 65 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, totaling 3,363 career rushing yards (14.7 yards/carry) and 43 touchdowns, ranked as the number one running back in Maryland by Scout and named 2014 Maryland Consensus All-State. He helped lead Fort Hill to a 37-3 record in three seasons, including back-to-back 14-0 state championship seasons as a junior and senior, he notched 1,733 rushing yards (14.9 ypc) and 22 touchdowns during senior season, also had 11 receptions for 371 yards and eight touchdowns. On defense, he registered 38 tackles, three interceptions and 14 passes broken up during his senior campaign, being selected to play for Maryland in the Big 33 Game.

As a freshman in 2015, Johnson appeared in all 12 games, totaling 250 rush yards (7.1/carry) and three touchdowns, had fantastic collegiate debut against Richmond (9/5), rushing for 83 yards and a touchdown, carried the ball 10 times for 30 yards against USF (9/1), and also totaled 66 kick return yards, rushed four times for 20 yards at West Virginia (9/26), had two rushes for 11 yards vs. Penn State (10/24), rushed three time for 19 yards against Wisconsin (11/7) and turned in a spectacular performance at Rutgers (11/28), scoring two touchdowns on two rushes for 87 yards.

As a sophomore in 2016, he appeared in all 13 games, making eight starts at running back, leading the team in rushing yards (1004), rushing touchdowns (6), yards/carry (9.1) and all-purpose yards (1249), setting the Maryland record for yards/rush attempt (min. 100 att.) with 9.1 y/c, breaking a 55-year-old record, becoming just the ninth player in Maryland history to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards in a season, having 10 plays (9 rush, 1 rec) of 40+ yards (all in the last 10 games). He had five games of 100+ rush yards, becoming the eighth player to eclipse the mark five times in a season, totaling 159 rushing yards and two touchdowns against Boston College (12/26), including a 62-yard TD scamper. Ty had 11 carries for 168 yards vs. Rutgers (11/26), including two runs of 40+ yards, ran seven times for 21 yards at #19 Nebraska (11/19), rushed eight times for 21 yards vs. #6 Ohio State (11/12), bottled up for 11 yards on nine carries at #2 Michigan (11/5), but caught two passes for 42 yards, hit 100 rushing yards for second straight game with 142 yards and a TD on a career-high 13 carries (10.9 yards/c) at Indiana (10/29).

He totaled 115 rush yards on just nine carries vs. Mich. State (10/22), carried five times for 23 yards vs. Minnesota (10/15), caught two passes for 69 yards at Penn State (10/8), including a 66-yard touchdown catch - the longest completion of Perry Hills' career, ran for 204 yards on a remarkable 7 carries (29.1 yds/c) vs. Purdue (10/1), including two touchdowns. His 29.1 yd/c is the most among 200-yard rushers in FBS over the last 20 seasons. The 204 yards is the most in a single-game in the Big Ten in 2016 - Named B1G Offensive Player of the Week, ran seven times for 47 yards at UCF (9/17), carried eight times for 34 yards at FIU (9/9), and made first collegiate start vs. Howard (9/3), rushing six times for 48 yards and a TD and catching three passes for 23 yards. Also blocked a punt in the first quarter that was brought back for a touchdown by Trey Edmunds.

As a junior in 2017, Johnson started all 12 games at running back, leading the team in rushing yards (875) and rushing touchdowns (5), he also posted 1,592 all-purpose yards, the seventh-most in single-season history, totaling 657 kick return yards - the ninth-most in single-season history. He carried eight times for 70 yards (8.8 y/c) vs. #12 Penn State (11/25), rushed 10 times for 35 yards at #22 Michigan State (11/18), surpassed 3,000 career all-purpose yards and 2,000 career rushing yards vs. #21 Michigan (11/11), rushing for 67 yards, scored both a rush and receiving TD for first time in career at Rutgers (11/4), had 13 carries for 91 yards against Indiana (10/28), rushed 16 times for 83 yards at #5 Wisconsin (10/21), returned first career kickoff for TD (100 yds) and had a career-high 246 all-purpose yards at #10 Ohio State (10/7). Ty also rushed 12 times for 57 yds, ran for 130 yards on career-high 18 carries at Minnesota (9/30), including a game-sealing 34-yard touchdown with 1:10 remaining, totaling 142 all-purpose yards vs. UCF (9/23), rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries vs. Towson (9/2), including TD rushes of 74 and 46 yards and picked up right where he left off in 2016, rushing for 132 yards on 12 carries (11.0 yds/c) and a TD at #23 Texas (9/2).

As a senior in 2018, he started in all nine games he appeared in, missing the final two games and the Michigan State (11/3) game due to injury, averaging 7.7 yards per carry on the season with 506 yards on 66 rushes, returning 14 kickoffs for 381 yards, a 27.2 average with a 98 yard touchdown return at #15 Michigan (10/6). He ranked ninth in the FBS and second in the Big Ten with the 27.2 return average, became the fourth Terrapin to surpass 4,000 all-purpose yards against Rutgers (10/13/18), joining Torrey Smith, LaMont Jordan and Stefon Diggs, added three more 100-yard rushing games to his resume with 132 against Rutgers (10/13), 123 vs. Minnesota (9/22) and 124 at Bowling Green (9/8), surpassed the 4,000 yard mark by carrying nine times for 132 yards (14.7 yds/c), including a 65-yard touchdown vs. Rutgers (10/13), returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown at Michigan (10/6), carried 11 times for 123 yards (11.2 yds/c) and a TD vs. MINN (9/22), his 81-yard touchdown run was the fourth-longest in program history and totaled 115 all-purpose yards against #23 Texas (9/1) with three receptions.

Johnson did not receive an invitation to the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine. However, at Maryland’s football pro day, scouts from 29 NFL teams, plus scouts from two Arena Football League teams and one Canadian Football League team were present to observe the workouts of 15 Maryland players, including Johnson. Johnson impressed scouts by running a 40-yard dash time clocked by most scouts as anywhere between 4.3 and 4.4 seconds, with one scout reportedly timing Johnson as fast as 4.26 seconds. For comparison, the fastest 40-yard dash time ran by any running back at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine was 4.40 seconds by Justice Hill of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. At his pro day workout, Johnson was also able to do 27 repetitions of the bench press at 225 pounds, which would have ranked the highest amongst 2019 Combine running backs, and was recorded jumping a 34-inch vertical.

Johnson was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the sixth-round (186th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft.

On October 2, 2020, Johnson was claimed off waivers by the New York Jets.