D'Ernest Johnson: RB · South Florida · #2.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
D'Ernest Johnson
Does a little of everything without one standout trait. The four seasons at South Florida span two head coaches: Willie Taggart and Charlie Strong. On tape: 111 rushing yards and 2 receiving yards against East Carolina, Week 5, 2017.
Play style
Plays within the scheme — consistent production without a dominant dimension.
Boom vs consistent · carry-yardage shape
Steady, not spectacular
Just 20.0% of his season rushing yards came on his 5 best carries — remarkably even — and he's stuffed on 20.7% of his carries. 13 carries for 15 yds vs Stony Brook; 16 for 111 vs East Carolina.
Counted from the play-by-play, so a carry or two can differ from the box score.
Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share
The closer
31.6% of carries overall (193/610) → 23.4% of Q4-with-lead carries (30/128) — 60.0% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.
Counted from the play-by-play, so a carry or two can differ from the box score.
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
13 of 23 on 3rd/4th-and-2-or-less (56.5%). 12 of the team's 33 inside-the-5 carries (36.4%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
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| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | South Florida | 193 | 796 | 4.1 | 7 | 50 |
| 2016 | South Florida | 111 | 543 | 4.9 | 8 | 24 |
| 2015 | South Florida | 71 | 307 | 4.3 | 1 | 23 |
| 2014 | South Florida | 46 | 150 | 3.3 | 0 | 16 |
| Career | 421 | 1,796 | 4.3 | 16 | 50 |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | South Florida | 11 | 153 | 13.9 | 2 | 34 |
| 2016 | South Florida | 28 | 293 | 10.5 | 5 | 37 |
| 2015 | South Florida | 26 | 356 | 13.7 | 4 | 71 |
| 2014 | South Florida | 8 | 107 | 13.4 | 1 | 24 |
| Career | 73 | 909 | 12.5 | 12 | 71 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 12 games
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| Wk | Opp | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 42-22@ San José State | 22 | 99 | 4.5 | 2 | 50 | |
| Wk 1 | W 31-17vs Stony Brook | 13 | 15 | 1.2 | 0 | 6 | |
| Wk 3 | W 47-23vs Illinois | 17 | 101 | 5.9 | 0 | 19 | |
| Wk 4 | W 43-7vs Temple | 24 | 106 | 4.4 | 0 | 26 | |
| Wk 5 | W 61-31@ East Carolina | 16 | 111 | 6.9 | 2 | 41 | Season-high 111 yds |
| Wk 7 | W 33-3vs Cincinnati | 17 | 53 | 3.1 | 0 | 6 | |
| Wk 8 | W 34-28@ Tulane | 20 | 84 | 4.2 | 1 | 15 | |
| Wk 9 | L 24-28vs Houston | 14 | 32 | 2.3 | 1 | 8 | |
| Wk 10 | W 37-20@ UConn | 7 | 30 | 4.3 | 1 | 23 | |
| Wk 12 | W 27-20vs Tulsa | 16 | 84 | 5.3 | 0 | 19 | |
| Wk 13 | L 42-49@ No. 13 UCF | 11 | 30 | 2.7 | 0 | 10 | |
 Bowl | W 38-34vs Texas Tech | 16 | 51 | 3.2 | 0 | 9 | |
| Total | 193 | 796 | 4.1 | 7 | 50 |
Week 3 · 2017
W 47-23
vs Illinois
101 rush yds (17 car) · 2 rec · 37 yds · 1 TD
Dominant 24-point win at home against Illinois.
With Q. Flowers — 280 yds · 4 TD · 1 INT · QBR 68.5 · 106 rush yds (25 car) · 1 TD · D. Antoine — 4 rec · 93 yds · 1 TD · 31 rush yds (2 car)
The plays that mattered most
Rush profile · Shape, efficiency, and ball security
How he gets his yards, and how often it works
Success rate
39%177 carriesStuffed
0 or fewer ydsGrind
1–3 ydsChunk
4–9 ydsExplosive
10+ yds4.1 yds/carry on 193 carries · 11% explosive (10+ yds) · 39% success rate.
Situational · Carry shape (PBP, full season)
Yardage DNA
Stuffed (≤0)
Grind (1–3)
Chunk (4–9)
Explosive (10+)
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 65.2 | 3.7 | 0.2 |
| Road5g | 70.8 | 4.5 | 1.2 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 76.6 | 4.2 | 0.6 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 52.0 | 3.8 | 0.6 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Charlie Strong
Pass share
36.9%
366 pass / 626 run
Plays / game
82.7
12 games
Team sack rate
4.6%
389 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2017
193 carries and 11 catches in 12 games, more touches a game than most FBS running backs who play every week.
How it ended
Four seasons at South Florida, 1,796 rushing yards — the college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2014–2017
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Willie Taggart → Charlie Strong. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
