The Lion, the Poet, and the Bounty Hunter: Rahmir Johnson ready for running back race

The inspiration has ebbed and flowed over his college career, but Rahmir Johnson still writes bursts of poetry. He got back into over this summer a little bit. And he’s worked on a clothing brand he’s close to releasing.
“I’ve got some big things coming in the near future,” the fifth-year Husker running back said.
A big competition this August, too.
Johnson is one of three Nebraska runners vying for the first carry at Minnesota. Gabe Ervin and Anthony Grant are in the mix, too, and new position coach E.J. Barthel has to sort out who’s 1, 2 and 3 based on his grading sheet of toughness, pass protection, ball security, playbook details and the ability to get 4 yards where mortals get 2.
“We’re going to run with a lion mindset,” Barthel said. Previous NU assistants used horse racing and Rocky IV metaphors. “Everything we do, we’re going to attack with a lion demeanor. You wake up a lion, and you do lion things. A lion’s going to make sure he hunts. If he doesn’t kill, he doesn’t eat. That’s the reality of how we want to run the football.”
Yes, NU plans a committee of guys who get to sit atop pride rock — coordinator Marcus Satterfield joked the team lacks Bo Jackson — but as soon as seasons begin, committees can break up. Grant had 70% of the team’s running back carries in 2022, and quarterback Chubba Purdy had more carries than either Ervin or Johnson. Purdy had two more rushing touchdowns, too; Ervin and Johnson didn’t score at all.
When rhetoric turns into reality, backup runners often wait their turn like pinch hitters.
They might get one drive. They might get one play. They might get surpassed by a converted wideout like Wan’Dale Robinson, who left the program because he didn’t want to play running back anymore. They might all get bites of the pizza crust without receiving a whole slice, like in 2021, when six guys got at least 10 carries but no more than 47 for a 3-9 team.
Johnson emerged from the pack that year. He had 112 carries, 495 rushing yards and 197 receiving yards, all career highs. He got back into poetry, but, late in that season, he also got hurt, missing losses to Wisconsin and Iowa. Grant arrived in 2022 and caught everyone’s eye. So did four-star freshman Ajay Allen. Coaches appeared ready to use Johnson in a hybrid receiver/running back role and talked him up for months as a “slash” and a special teams gunner.
He caught one pass in 2022. He had 19 carries and 12 of those came against Iowa when coaches finally got exasperated with Grant trying to run around a swarming flock of Hawkeyes. He said he wasn't hurt last year. It's not clear why offensive coordinator Mark Whipple or running backs coach Bryan Applewhite didn't use him more.
Nebraska hired Matt Rhule, who Johnson called a “Jersey guy.” Johnson is a Jersey guy. Johnson and Rhule think the same. So does Johnson and Barthel. As Allen chose to transfer — NU coaches didn’t like his inattention to ball security — Johnson chose to stay.
“I’m like a bounty hunter — the mission is the mission,” Johnson said. “When I first came here, I told the media I wanted to bring Nebraska back to being known as Nebraska. That’s my goal — no matter what the adversity is for me. I talked to this coaching staff, and they assured me that, ‘Look, it’s going to be different from years past.’ I work hard. They’ve got my back, and I’ve got their back.”
At 5-foot-10, he’s still playing some receiver — Nebraska already had little experience before veteran Joshua Fleeks showed up overweight — but he’s bulked up to 190 pounds, his 2021 weight, when the smaller-than-standard back gladly slammed his body into defenses from Michigan and Ohio State. Johnson is a straight-line, downhill runner who spent his New Jersey high school days in an old-school I formation.
“You can see his body is changing,” Barthel said.
Grant, who had 915 rushing yards last season, is working on — and has improved — his ability to adhere to play design and read blocks so that he hits the hole instead of trying to find the corner. Grant in 2022 struggled at times on zone runs — Barthel calls the play “expensive” given the time spent perfecting it — but is starting to reduce his mistakes.
“You can make a fast error,” Barthel said, “but you get to see it on film slow. He’s already starting to respond.”
Ervin, fully recovered from a 2021 torn ACL, is leaner and quicker. He’s had to learn how to be “a guy,” Barthel said, in the last nine months. Showing up to meetings on time. Keeping his routine tight. Preparing to play healthy — and play a lot.
“He’s really taken ownership of being a mature, veteran player,” Barthel said. “Which is hard to do when you haven’t played a lot.”
All three backs face an expansive “NFL-style” playbook that Barthel said “will not be limited.”
Some teams — Minnesota, and at times Iowa — work and work and work on inside and outside zone until the opposing linebackers screw up and the defense gets gashed.
Nebraska will run zone stuff — and power stuff. Rhule said at Big Ten media days he wants variety; the ideal Husker back can run it all and pack a punch in pass pro, too.
Johnson’s down for it all. He’s already proven he catch the ball in 2021, and he was an adequate pass blocker, too. While Grant (205) and Ervin (220) carry more weight behind their pads, Johnson likes the new scheme. He didn’t leave Nebraska for another spread system. He stayed for the starch. He expects some big things.
“People say, ‘Yeah, I’m a lot smaller, but I’ve been running between the tackles all my life,” Johnson said. “That don’t really faze me. I play football out there, honestly. I’m a running back. I gotta do what I gotta do.”