Ten Questions: 6. Will Northwestern’s corners be better this season after losing Johnson?

Northwestern lost its best cover corner to the transfer portal after last season. Theran Johnson, a second-team All-Big Ten selection who was the first Northwestern player since at least 2005 to register 10+ PBUs and 4+ TFL in a season, transferred to Oregon.

Yet we think the Wildcats will be stronger at cornerback this season. There are three reasons: grad transfer Fred Davis, the emergence of Josh Fussell and the return of Ore Adeyi from injury.

The Wildcats will trot out two new opening day starting corners against Tulane on Aug. 30. But they will, in essence, have four starter-caliber players. Davis and Fussell will almost certainly be the No. 1s, and Adeyi and Evan Smith, who started the first four games of last season, will be waiting in the wings.

That’s not a bad lineup. There may not be a first-round draft pick in that group, but it is still deep, athletic and experienced. And Johnson, for all his talent, created some friction in the locker room last season.

Davis can be a difference maker

Davis is the wild card here. He’s got excellent size for a corner at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, and he still has the skill set that made him the No. 28 player in the nation coming out of high school in the Class of 2020. He drew some 40 offers, including blue bloods like Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame and Ohio State, and wound up picking Clemson.

He played in 11 games as a true freshman for a CFP team, but then saw his playing time dwindle the next two seasons. (Davis was also charged with misdemeanor reckless driving in the summer of 2022, when he was driving a car that struck a mail delivery truck and injured a postal worker.)

Davis then transferred to UCF in 2023 and played in just two games in a redshirt season. Last year, at Jacksonville State, he played in all 14 games with nine starts and finished with 18 tackles, 3.5 TFL and 4 PBU while surrendering just 16 receptions for 142 yards in 245 coverage snaps.

If cornerbacks coach LaMarcus Hicks can get the best out of Davis, and get him to play more consistently, he could be a difference maker for the Wildcats. Sources say that he’s been impressive in fall camp.

Fussell is a budding star

Fussell has the look of a star in the making for the Wildcats. He turned in an exceptional redshirt freshman season in 2024, starting the last eight games after taking over for Smith and racking up 39 tackles and 5 PBU, second-most on the team, behind only Johnson.

At 6-foot and 195 pounds, Fussell has good size and shows excellent instincts. He is also a physical, able tackler who recorded career-highs with seven tackles in back-to-back games against Ohio State and Michigan last season.

With a year as a starter under his belt, Fussell is poised to make a leap developmentally between his first and second year. He could eventually become an All-Big Ten player for the Wildcats.

TEN QUESTIONS SERIES: 1. Can Preston Stone return to form? | 2. Does Northwestern have enough depth at wide receiver? | 3. Will Anto Saka be an elite pass rusher? | 4. Can an influx of transfers boost the defense? l 5. Can Northwestern find production at tight end?

Adeyi and Smith bring starter-level depth

Then there’s Adeyi, who was set to start last season opposite of Johnson when he went down with a season-ending injury in fall camp. Head coach David Braun had been signing his praises last August.

Adeyi will give the Wildcats another valuable option this season, one who played in 23 games in 2022 and 2023.

“Having Ore back is huge,” said Braun last week after practice. “It’s huge for us as a team. It’s huge for him personally – you know, everything that he navigated last year and the journey that he’s been on to get back to where he is today. Ultimately, he’s a young man that’s played a lot of Big Ten football at the corner position, which is no easy task.”

Finally, there is Smith, the starter through Week 4 that was replaced by Fussell. The now redshirt junior continued to see playing time last year, appearing in 12 games and registering 28 tackles, 3 PBUs, 2 TFL and an interception. He and Adeyi will battle for the slot corner job.

It’s not often that a team can boast four players with that much experience on the two deep at corner, but that’s what the Wildcats will have this season. It may seem counterintuitive, but a year after losing their best cornerback, the Wildcats could be better at the position this season.