Hoosier draft profile: Jerome Johnson
IU defensive tackle could be a late-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft
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Jerome Johnson’s hometown of Bassfield, Miss. is a community of fewer than 300 residents nestled in the southern region of the state. It stretches across a mere 1.1 square miles of land, a place that’s easy to drive through and even easier to forget.
Except when it comes to football.
Before it consolidated with another nearby school system in 2017, Bassfield High School was, on its own, a high school football powerhouse. It won four straight state titles from 2012 through 2015, while regular producing players who went on to play at some of the nation’s premier programs. And yet, as he navigated the recruiting process while playing on one of Mississippi’s top high school teams, Johnson found it difficult to get noticed by the big schools. There was a point when the developing defensive lineman had zero Division I of