Ellis Johnson (defensive lineman)

Ellis Johnson

No. 62, 61
Position:	Defensive tackle, defensive end
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1973-10-30) October 30, 1973
Place of birth:	Wildwood, Florida
Height:
Weight:
Career information
High school:	Wildwood (FL)
College:	Florida
NFL draft:	1995 / Round: 1 / Pick: 15
Career history
Indianapolis Colts (1995–2001) Atlanta Falcons (2002–2003) Denver Broncos (2004)
Career highlights and awards
SEC Championship (1991, 1993, 1994) First-team All-SEC (1994) Honorable mention All-American (1994) CNN Defensive Player of the Year (1994) University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame
Career NFL statistics
Games played: 149 Games started: 89 Tackles: 356 Quarterback sacks: 51 Interceptions: 3 Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Ellis Bernard Johnson (born October 30, 1973) is an American former college and professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. Johnson played college football for the University of Florida, and was recognized as the National Defensive Player of the Year. He was picked in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft, and played professionally for the Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos of the NFL.

Early life

Johnson was born in Wildwood, Florida in 1973. He attended Wildwood High School, where he played high school football for the Wildwood Wildcats.

College career

Johnson accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1991 to 1994. As a senior team captain on the Gators' 1994 Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship team, Johnson was a first-team All-SEC selection, an honorable mention All-American, and CNN's National Defensive Player of the Year; he was also selected by his Gators teammates as the team's most valuable player. He finished his four years as a Gator with 16.3 quarterback sacks and 26.8 tackles for a loss.

In a retrospective series published by The Gainesville Sun in 2006, Johnson was rated No. 32 among the top 100 Gators of the first 100 seasons of Florida football. He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2007.

Professional career

The Indianapolis Colts selected Johnson in the first round (fifteenth pick overall) of the 1995 NFL Draft, and he played for the Colts from 1995 to 2001. During those seven seasons, he started eighty-four of 104 games, recording 269 tackles, thirty-three quarterback sacks and two interceptions.

Johnson signed with the Atlanta Falcons before the 2002 season, and he played for the Falcons from 2002 to 2003. In the two years, he started five of thirty-two games, recording sixty-seven tackles, and fifteen sacks. Johnson signed with the Denver Broncos before the 2004 season. In his only season with the Broncos, he played in thirteen games, recording sixteen tackles, three sacks and an interception.

In his ten-year NFL career, Johnson appeared in 149 regular season games, started in eighty-nine of them, and was responsible for 356 tackles.

See also

• 1994 College Football All-America Team
• Florida Gators football, 1990–99
• History of the Indianapolis Colts
• List of Florida Gators football All-Americans
• List of Florida Gators football players in the NFL
• List of Indianapolis Colts first-round draft picks

Bibliography

• Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.
• Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
• Hairston, Jack, Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). ISBN 1-58261-514-4.
• McCarthy, Kevin M., Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). ISBN 978-0-7385-0559-6.
• Nash, Noel, ed., The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). ISBN 1-57167-196-X.