Quick Facts
Virgo
Biography
Jer'Zhan "Johnny" Newton (born August 31, 2002) is an American football defensive tackle. He played college football at Illinois, being named a consensus All-American in 2023.
Early life
Newton attended Clearwater Central Catholic High School in Clearwater, Florida. During his career, he had 244 tackles and 24 sacks. He originally committed to the University of Maryland, College Park to play college football before switching to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
College career
As a true freshman at Illinois in 2020, Newton played in all eight games with two starts and had 23 tackles and 1.5 sacks. In 2021, he started 11 of 12 games, recording 50 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Newton returned to Illinois in 2022. Newton declared for the 2024 NFL Draft following the 2023 season, where he was named a consensus All-American.