C.J. Johnson

Junior wide receiver for East Carolina. 2022: 67 catches, 1,016 receiving yards, 10 TD.

WR · East Carolina · Jr. · #5

6′2″ · 222 lb · Greenville, NC

CFB Index 85 · #24 of 488 WRsHigh confidenceAll-ConferenceEast Carolina 2022 alumnus

The story

3 wide receiver for East Carolina. 2022: 67 catches, 1,016 receiving yards, 10 TD.

The record fills in as he plays.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at East Carolina, 2,849 receiving yards — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

The week the volume broke through — put up 283 yds vs Cincinnati.Cincinnati · L 43-462019

202213 games

All-AACsecond

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

East Carolina

2019–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

2 honors · 1 category

🎖

ALL-AAC · 2ND TEAM

All-AAC 2nd team (2022)

Coaching lineage · 2019–2022

1 coach

2019–2022

Mike Houston

East Carolina

Played his entire career under Mike Houston.

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

4 seasons under Mike Houston — 22-24 over that span.

2019East Carolina4-8HC: Mike Houston · Balanced

2020East Carolina3-6HC: Mike Houston · Run-leaning

2021East Carolina7-5HC: Mike Houston · Balanced, fast tempo

2022East Carolina8-5HC: Mike Houston · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

85All-Conference level #24 of 488?

High confidence10 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: explosive rate (88th percentile). Strength: catch rate (86th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Explosive rate#73 / 636 · 88th pct

22.2%

Catch rate#85 / 636 · 86th pct

90.5%

EPA / target#115 / 636 · 82nd pct

0.97

TD rate#162 / 636 · 74th pct

9.5%

Yards / catch#190 / 636 · 70th pct

13.8

Box-score rates (5)

Rec TDs#13 / 550 · 97th pct

Rec yards#30 / 550 · 95th pct

1016

Receptions#40 / 550 · 93rd pct

Long catch#61 / 550 · 88th pct

Yards / catch#145 / 550 · 73rd pct

15.2

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

62nd → 82nd percentile

Explosive rate

72nd → 88th percentile

Catch rate

26th → 86th percentile

TD rate

16th → 74th percentile

Yards / catch

75th → 70th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home8g	5.0	67.5	13.3	0.5
Road5g	5.4	95.2	16.8	1.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-78g	4.5	75.0	15.4	1.0
Weeks 8+5g	6.2	83.2	13.5	0.4

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Blake Harrell

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2022

All-Conference

Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

85 · #24 of 488 WRs

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	East Carolina	67	1,016	15.2	10	--
2021	East Carolina	35	520	14.9	1	--
2020	East Carolina	19	405	21.3	6	--
2019	East Carolina	54	908	16.8	4	--
Career		175	2,849	16.3	21	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 8 · 2022

W 34–13

vs UCF

11 rec · 140 yds · 1 TD

Dominant 21-point win at home against UCF.

With H. Ahlers — 311 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 92.3 · 6 rush yds (5 car) · 1 TD · K. Mitchell — 105 rush yds (16 car) · 2 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 11 · Cincinnati · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA +6.93C.J. Johnson 72 Yd pass from Holton Ahlers (Andrew Conrad Kick)
Week 5 · South Florida · 3&7 · Q1 · EPA +6.40H.Ahlers pass complete to ECU 40. Catch made by C.Johnson at ECU 40. Gain of 60 yards. ECU for 60 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Week 5 · South Florida · 2&4 · Q2 · EPA +6.10H.Ahlers pass complete to ECU 26. Catch made by C.Johnson at ECU 26. Gain of 74 yards. C.Johnson for 74 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Week 11 · Cincinnati · 4&12 · Q4 · EPA +3.66Holton Ahlers pass complete to C.J. Johnson for 13 yds to the Cincy 43 for a 1ST down
Week 7 · Memphis · 3&2 · Q4 · EPA +3.43Holton Ahlers pass complete to C.J. Johnson for 35 yds to the Memph 32 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Campbell · 3&7 · Q2 · EPA +3.39C.J. Johnson 21 Yd pass from Holton Ahlers (Owen Daffer Kick)
Week 1 · NC State · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.14Holton Ahlers pass complete to C.J. Johnson for 39 yds for a TD, (Owen Daffer KICK)
Week 8 · UCF · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.14Holton Ahlers pass complete to C.J. Johnson for 39 yds for a TD, (Andrew Conrad KICK)
Week 6 · Tulane · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.12Holton Ahlers pass complete to C.J. Johnson for 24 yds for a TD, (Owen Daffer PAT MISSED)
Week 8 · UCF · 3&4 · Q3 · EPA +3.03Holton Ahlers pass complete to C.J. Johnson for 25 yds to the UCF 33 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 20-21vs NC State	6	90	15.0	1	39
Wk 2	W 39-21vs Old Dominion	1	11	11.0	0	11
Wk 3	W 49-10vs Campbell	5	91	18.2	1	33
Wk 4	L 20-23vs Navy	3	31	10.3	0	16
Wk 5	W 48-28@ South Florida	7	197	28.1	4	74	Season-high 197 yds
Wk 6	L 9-24@ Tulane	3	51	17.0	1	24
Wk 7	W 47-45vs Memphis	4	46	11.5	0	35
Wk 8	W 34-13vs UCF	11	140	12.7	1	39	140-yard receiving day
Wk 9	W 27-24@ BYU	4	45	11.3	0	26
Wk 11	L 25-27@ Cincinnati	7	123	17.6	1	72
Wk 12	L 3-42vs Houston	3	48	16.0	0	35
Wk 13	W 49-46@ Temple	6	60	10.0	0	20
Bowl	W 53-29vs Coastal Carolina	7	83	11.9	1	16
Total		67	1016	14.7	10	74

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology