What if ... Jermaine Johnson is an elite pass-rusher for FSU Football?

As the 2021 preseason approaches, Warchant's staff will examine several different "What if?" scenarios regarding the Florida State football team.

These are not predictions that these events will happen, but a hypothetical analysis of how the Seminoles' season would be impacted if they did.

Next up in this series is a look at Georgia defensive end transfer Jermaine Johnson.

Not only was Johnson an effective pass-rusher last season for the Bulldogs, racking up five sacks despite playing less than 30 snaps per game, but he fills a huge area of need for the Seminoles. FSU's pass rush was anemic last season, and the top two defensive ends have both moved on to the NFL.

But what if Johnson is a truly elite pass-rusher? What if he can produce double-digit sacks the way Brian Burns did in 2018 or DeMarcus Walker did in 2016?

That is the premise of today's, "What if?"

Previous installments: What if McKenzie Milton plays for FSU like he did in 2017-18?

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What if Jermaine Johnson gives FSU's defense a truly elite pass-rusher?

Answering this question are panel members Gene Williams, founder and administrator of Warchant.com; Ira Schoffel, managing editor; Corey Clark, senior writer; and Aslan Hajivandi, director of digital media.

GENE: Here’s a fun stat for you: Florida State’s defensive ends combined for just three sacks all of last season. And the entire defense managed just nine in nine games. To put those numbers into perspective, DeMarcus Walker had 16 sacks by himself -- and the team had 51 -- in the 2016 season.

As awful as the Seminoles' defense was in 2020, the most glaring weakness was the inability to get to the quarterback. With little or no pressure, opposing offenses were able to slice and dice a defense that was typically out of position or simply beat in coverage. A competent pass rush could have dramatically changed the defense’s fortunes last season, and there might have been a couple more checks in the win column.

Jermaine Johnson showed a lot of promise during spring practice, routinely disrupting the backfield and pressuring the quarterbacks. If that carries over to the fall, and he becomes a dominating defensive end, it would do wonders for the defense. When Walker was making life miserable for quarterbacks in 2016 (see above), the Seminoles finished No. 22 in total defense. Not saying there would be that big of a jump in 2021, but with some modest improvement at other positions, it’s not unreasonable to expect FSU’s defense to vault into the top 50 if a defensive end was able to rack up double-digit sacks. That kind of production would most certainly translate into a few more wins.

COREY: There's really no way to overstate how impactful it would be to have a legitimate, honest-to-goodness pass rush again.

Last year's defensive ends, even though they were both drafted by NFL teams, weren't what you would call difference-makers coming off the edge. Josh Kaindoh didn't have a single sack the entire season, and Janarius Robinson wasn't exactly Peter Boulware either. When you're not getting pressure -- like any pressure -- on the opposing quarterback, it leads to defensive performances like we saw last year.

Bailey Hockman all of the sudden looks like Steve Young. The Pitt QB races back from an ankle injury just so he can torch the hapless Seminoles defense. Duke even put up 35 points. And most of that stems from a complete inability to affect the quarterback. If Johnson can change that, then I think it will make a world of difference for the FSU defense. If he's an All-ACC type performer, where opposing offenses have to account for him at all times and occasionally send double-teams his way, it will mean the Seminoles should be getting much more pressure on the quarterback. Which means, of course, the defensive backs don't have to cover receivers for four or five seconds, but instead can actually go make plays knowing the ball will be coming out quicker than the quarterback would like.

Johnson was frankly unblockable for most of the spring. If that keeps up, if he can be that dynamic coming off the edge, that will lead to more turnovers, more tackles for loss, more long-yardage situations, and more reason for optimism that this defense can go from god-awful to just maybe mediocre? I know that's not the goal of any defense, especially at Florida State, but it's going to have to be baby steps in 2021. And if Johnson can be a constant presence in the backfield, if he can make two or three impactful plays every game, to change momentum, to kill a drive, to slam a quarterback into the turf, that should mean a solid uptick in production and performance from the FSU defense as a whole.

IRA: This hypothetical is more complicated than the McKenzie Milton one, in my opinion. Just because defensive football is so much more dependent on all 11 players working in unison, and it's not as easy to mask deficiencies at one or two positions.

If you have a great pass-rushing defensive end and little else on that side of the ball -- or if your defensive players do not work together -- then that lone pass-rusher can be rendered largely ineffective. And after what we saw from the Florida State defense in 2020, we all understand that the lack of a pass rush wasn't the Seminoles' only problem.

But for the sake of this exercise, we're going to assume that between the additional defensive transfers FSU brought in this offseason and the continued development of returning players that Johnson will not be going it alone in 2021. That Keir Thomas is going to be an effective bookend at the other DE spot. That fellow South Carolina transfer Jammie Robinson will be a force in the nickelback position (which appeared to be the case in the spring). That all of the linebackers and defensive backs will be more comfortable in Year Two of Adam Fuller's system, and that the entire unit will play with discipline and confidence.

So ... assuming all of that (hey, we said this was a hypothetical!) ... then I think Johnson could be a transcendent player for the Seminoles if he is indeed an elite pass-rusher. Not only could he make life so much easier for Florida State's defenders in coverage, but he could change the way opposing quarterbacks approach the game. The vast majority of college quarterbacks can make all the throws in their offense if they have time and feel comfortable. But once they get moved off their spot, or their timing is disrupted, then it's only the above-average ones who can still keep making plays. And it's only the great ones who can keep making plays once they've started getting hit on play after play.

If Johnson can be that type of pass-rusher, the kind that affects how quarterbacks play the game, then I definitely think he can have a direct impact on wins and losses throughout the course of the season.

ASLAN: Bust out the boat shoes, boys, we’re going nautical with the metaphors. A high tide lifts all ships, and in this iteration of college football, a pass-rusher is the singular most impactful player for a defense. So if Johnson performs at an All-America level, I’d imagine FSU is bowling in Florida this holiday season.

It’s just a waterfall effect. I’m not even referring to double-teams, but the mere presence of a dominant pass-rusher is going to make the guy next to him play more freely and the guy next to him and so on. FSU ranked 104th out of 127 teams in third-down conversion defense last season, so you have to figure if he’s able to affect one or two third downs each week -- and get you off the field instead of allowing a scoring drive -- that’s one or two wins over 12 weeks.

Just look at DeMarcus Walker in 2016 — he played out of this world in the second half vs. Ole Miss and was a significant factor in stymying Florida at the end of the season, and both games turned from possible losses into wins.

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Talk about this story with other Florida State sports fans in the Tribal Council.