Sports Illustrated’s Richard Johnson 2022 recipient of the Edward Aschoff Rising Star Award

Richard Johnson from Sports Illustrated is the 2022 winner of the Edward Aschoff Soaring Star Award.

Johnson, 29, has been a national college or university soccer author with SI considering that the drop of 2021.

“It is usually an honor to be presented an award from your peers!” Johnson reported in a assertion. “This is the only subject I have at any time wished to do the job in, and it is really unbelievably validating to be regarded.

“I count all my experiences in this field as ongoing instruction and there are way too numerous editors and writers to name who have designed me much better and aided me alongside the way. I grew up reading numerous of them as a lifelong college or university football fan and it truly is been amazing to get to know them as I increase in journalism.”

This is the 3rd year the Soccer Writers Association of America (FWAA) has introduced the award in honor of Aschoff, next David Ubben (2020) and Grace Raynor (2021).

Ubben and Raynor are the two with The Athletic.

Aschoff coated school football for ESPN and died on Christmas Eve 2019, his 34th birthday, from stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma that experienced created in his lungs.

Like Aschoff, Johnson graduated from the University of Florida.

Immediately after his graduation in 2015, Johnson joined ESPN prior to producing his way to SB Country and ultimately Sports activities Illustrated.

“I bear in mind when the FWAA announced this award a few many years back,” Johnson stated. “I quickly realized that I desired to win it, and I guess it’s time to move earlier my jealousy of past winners David and Grace — I kid as they are both of those fantastic reporters who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting on the highway the very last number of a long time.

“Ed is a key case in point of how representation matters. There are regrettably much too few Black people today covering this sport, and for as prolonged as I might recognized him, viewing Ed on tv or his byline on the web-site was proof favourable that he’d made it in this business and that I could as well.

“You could say I generally followed his blueprint from UF’s journalism school to masking the Gators all the way to ESPN, and it was an honor to shout him out during my initially season on the SEC Network.”