Whenever the green-and-white uniform is donned for the first time for the first minicamp practices that morph into training camp, preseason and then the regular season, it’s difficult to imagine the Jets having to worry about effort from Jermaine Johnson II.
The 23-year-old native of Eden Prairie, Minn., whom the Jets doggedly chased for about a third of Thursday night’s 2022 NFL Draft first round, doesn’t come across as an athlete who takes a lot for granted.
Or takes many — if any — plays off.
Johnson’s arduous journey from high school in Minnesota to junior college in Kansas to big-time college ball in Georgia and finally to Florida State before the Jets plucked him out of the first round with the 26th overall pick they wrested from the Titans in a trade tells you all you need to know about him.
He wants it.
You don’t persevere the path Johnson did unless desire is your middle name.
You had better believe Jets head coach Robert Saleh and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich are jumping out of their skin in anticipation to coach this kid.
“You see the transfers,’’ Johnson said Friday from the Jets facility while meeting the local media for the first time. “It wasn’t a clean-cut, cookie-cutter way to get here. But I wouldn’t want it any other way, because it truly created the man that’s sitting here in front of you. I embrace it all. I couldn’t be more excited about my path.’’
That path began at a place called Independence Community College in Independence, Kan., where the school was featured in a Netflix series titled “Last Chance U’’ while Johnson was on the team in 2017-18.
Johnson transferred to Georgia, where he hoped to pave a path to the NFL, but his playing time was unsatisfactory so he transferred again, to Florida State, where he became a quarterback assassin this past season with 70 tackles (17.5 for a loss) and 11.5 sacks.
“The path has formed the man,’’ Florida State head coach Mike Norvell told The Post Friday night. “He’s had to live it out, but he did. He was here for a year, but he made an impact that’s going to last well beyond his days here physically with the way he invested in his teammates.’’
Norvell referenced the 0-4 start FSU had this past season, which included three losses in the final seconds, and how Johnson was the glue that kept the younger players together en route to a 5-3 finish.
“When he came here, we talked and I told him I didn’t want this to be just a place for him to improve his draft status, that it was an opportunity to make an impact,’’ Norvell said. “He embraced that. That’s what he wanted. He wanted to make a difference.’’
Draft experts believe the 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive end was the most polished pass rusher in this year’s class. Saleh and the Jets, who produced just 33 sacks in 2021, sure hope that translates to the next level.
That Johnson is at the next level, given his path, is testament to his resolve.
“I feel like that’s made me like him even more, knowing he’s been through so much and he just kept going,’’ Jets No. 4 overall draft pick Ahmad “Sauce’’ Gardner said Friday. “A lot of people who’ve been through that, they would have given up.’’
There’s no give-up in Johnson, which — when coupled with the talent — would seem to make him the ideal draft pick.
Add in the fact Johnson doesn’t give a damn about his brand — as too many young athletes fall into the trap and let distract them from what they do best — and Johnson is a coach’s dream.
Johnson revealed on Friday that he actually resisted the publicity the Netflix series wanted to draw him into, and that he has never even watched the show.
“I didn’t know [the Netflix series] was actually going be at Independence when I had chosen to go there,’’ Johnson said. “A lot of people don’t know I was supposed to have a bigger role on that show. The director kept asking me to be the featured guy and I wasn’t really interested in it.’’
Johnson said he wanted to “keep the main thing the main thing and that was football,’’ adding, “My goals were very clear to me. I wasn’t super interested in being an actor or anything like that. Actually, I haven’t even watched the show, to be quite honest.’’
Jets fans are likely going to enjoy watching Johnson, who said the way the Jets came after him on Thursday night “meant everything’’ to him.
“This was my first pick,’’ Johnson said. “To hear that they were trying to trade for me since pick 15 all the way to 26, it means the world to me. It means I’m wanted and I’m loved. Everyone has made me feel that way. It makes it that much easier for me to give everything I have back to them.’’
That figures to be a lot.