‘It felt like home’: Why coveted JUCO SS Sherman Johnson committed to NC State

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind for junior college shortstop Sherman Johnson.

In the days leading up to last weekend’s MLB Draft, Johnson was flown up to Minneapolis, Minn., to go through an in-person workout with the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. There was a thought the team was going to draft him, and eventually they were ready to in the later rounds, but Johnson was set on going to college at that point. 

Once the draft came and went, Johnson elected to decommit from Arkansas to evaluate all of his options. Five minutes after he was officially released from his paperwork with the Razorbacks, NC State associate head coach Chris Hart called Johnson and was immediately interested.

The Wolfpack’s sales pitch was a simple one: come be the team’s everyday shortstop. 

Johnson was on a plane to Raleigh a few days later, spending all of this past Saturday on an official visit at Doak Field. He said he “loved it” and committed to the Wolfpack coaching staff during his trip to NC State.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound shortstop out of McLennan Community College officially announced his commitment to the Wolfpack on Tuesday afternoon. He has three years of eligibility left. 

What exactly set NC State apart from nearly every SEC program that had interest in Johnson? The program’s culture.

“Coach [Elliott] Avent, every time he saw me, gave me a hug. Coach Bo [Robinson], everybody showed love. It felt like home. It felt like it was somewhere I was supposed to be at,” Johnson said. “The culture of the team, it’s a good team. I just wanted to be a part of that, go to Omaha and win a national championship.”

Although Johnson impressed this past season at McLennan with a .319 average to go with 21 doubles, three triples, nine home runs and 51 RBI, it was just his first campaign against college pitching. His freshman season at Dallas Baptist was cut short after three at-bats, leading to a medical redshirt and the junior college route. 

And while Johnson was able to turn in a standout season, which culminated in being named to the JUCO World Series All-Tournament Team, his bat was quiet to start the season. 1-for-21 quiet. Nothing was working, and for the first time in his baseball career, Johnson was failing. 

But a quick conversation with McLennan coach James Leverton turned his season around. Johnson dedicated himself to baseball, including a 6 a.m. wake-up call for a 7 a.m. hitting session every day, which allowed him to become a key player in the team’s run to the national championship series this past spring. 

“I was all in,” Johnson said. “I was grinding, and obviously, my season turned around for the better.”

Johnson broke the seal with a 1-for-3 showing with a home run and two walks against Seminole State College on March 3. After that, he hit his stride and didn’t look back. He was able to string together an eight-game hitting streak two weeks later, followed by closing the season with at least one hit in 32 of his last 35 games. Johnson had 16 multi-hit performances and nine multi-RBI efforts over that stretch.

Now, Johnson is set to bring that same mindset to NC State. 

The Wolfpack loved both his bat and his defense, making Johnson an all-around shortstop that had almost every high-major program clamoring for. But in the end, NC State was the only visit he took once decommitting from Arkansas before pledging to Avent’s squad. 

Johnson, who was the JUCO World Series’ Most Outstanding Defensive Player, knows his defense can affect the outcome of games as much as his red-hot bat can. That’s what he felt like separated him the most from other shortstops around the country.

“I take so much pride in defense,” Johnson said. “You can change the game with your bat, but defense is where it really matters. Defense is a team thing. When you’re feeling good, the whole team feels good. … Making plays that you can make that are electric, those are the ones I want to do every time.”

NC State’s shortstop development stuck out to Johnson as the Wolfpack courted him, ranging from MLB All-Star Trea Turner to back-to-back draft picks in Brandon Butterworth and Justin DeCriscio. After all, Johnson’s dream is to hear his name called in the mid-summer draft — which nearly happened this month — and he trusts NC State to help him reach that. 

“It’s everybody’s dream to get drafted and get to the Big Leagues,” Johnson said. “Once that happened for me, I was like, ‘I have a real shot to do this, so let me go to a program where they can develop me even more.’ That’s what I was looking for the most.”

NC State fit the bill. Now, the Wolfpack is eager to get Johnson in campus in the coming weeks to prepare for the 2026 season with one of its highest-impact additions of the offseason.