Richard Johnson from Sports Illustrated is the 2022 winner of the Edward Aschoff Rising Star Award.
Johnson, 29, has been a national college football writer by SI through the fall of 2021.
“It’s always an honor to receive an award from your peers!” Johnson said in a statement. “This is the only field I’ve ever wanted to work on, and it’s an amazing guarantee of recognition.
“I count all my experiences in this field as continuing education and there are many editors and writers that I can name who have made me successful and helped me along the way. I grew up reading many of them as a college football fan and it has been. amazing to know them as I grow in journalism. “
This is the third year the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) has presented this award in honor of Aschoff, following David Ubben (2020) and Grace Raynor (2021).
Ubben and Raynor are both with The Athletic.
Aschoff covered college football for ESPN and died on Christmas Day 2019, his 34th birthday, from stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma that started in his lungs.
Like Aschoff, Johnson graduated from the University of Florida.
After graduating in 2015, Johnson joined ESPN before moving on to SB Nation and eventually Sports Illustrated.
“I remember when the FWAA announced this award a few years ago,” Johnson said. “I knew right away that I wanted to win, and I think it’s time to let go of my jealousy of the previous winners David and Grace – I’m a kid since they’re both great journalists that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting along the way. The last few years.
“Ed is a great example of how representation works. Unfortunately there are very few black people who learn about this sport, and for as long as I’ve known him, seeing Ed on television or his appearance on the web was proof that he made it. I made it in this industry and I made it.
“You could say I followed his footsteps from the UF journalism school to get from the Gators to ESPN, and it was an honor to shout for him during my first season on the SEC Network.”
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