He is a college football player so talented and productive it's almost impossible to believe he's most college football fans have never heard of him. But Texas A&M junior quarterback Jerrod Johnson has outperformed the nation’s most elite quarterbacks. He has become one of the most mature and grounded athletes in big-time sports. He runs like Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor, leads like Texas’ Colt McCoy, throws like Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, has the tough-mindedness and character like Florida’s Tim Tebow. But television cameras have not televised one of his monstrous games. The director has not demanded that cameras capture every facial expression and emotion of Jerrod Johnson's mother, girlfriend or neighbors. Stick Jerrod Johnson in Tim Tebow's uniform, and after the numbers he is putting up the Heisman race would be over. But his coming out party figures to come this Saturday, when the 3-0 Aggies take on Arkansas at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
Jerrod Johnson doesn't drink, and never has tried anything stronger than Advil when it comes to drugs. His name is often misspelled or mispronounced. It's Jerrod, as in ja-ROD. He is wrongly compared to Vince Young or JaMarcus Russell, mostly because he is a big quarterback and Black. He is more polished as a passer, a smooth runner and often the smartest player on the field. (Don’t say it).
He made an early impression on the Aggies program over the summer as he entered his first full season as the starting quarterback. He woke up at 5 a.m. everyday for boot camp-type workouts. He telephoned incoming freshman and encouraged them to meet for 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 practices with veterans. He held meetings with every offensive player, meticulously using a laser pointer to go over individual assignments on every play in the Aggies playbook.
Jerrod Johnson has put a once-great football program that finished 4-8 a year ago on his shoulders. He leads the nation's No. 1 offense, and through leadership and on-field production, he is carrying the Aggies back to respectability. He stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 245 pounds. He is a powerful runner with a deceptive and long stride. He can throw the ball 70 yards, with ease. At the Peyton Manning camp over the summer, he beat McCoy, Bradford, Greg McElroy and a couple dozen other Division I quarterbacks in a passing skills competition.
Comparisons? He averages twice as many passing yards (320.3 to 160.7) as Tebow. He has three times more rushing yards (196 to 61), more rushing touchdowns (4 to 1) and a higher passer rating (167.0 to 150.9) than McCoy. He's thrown more touchdown passes (9), with a higher completion percentage (67.5), than Ryan Mallett, Jacory Harris and Terrelle Pryor. He averages more total offense per game (385.6) than Taylor Potts, Jimmy Clausen and Todd Reesing. His passer rating is higher than Case Keenum's, Zac Robinson's and Max Hall's. He accounts for more points per game (26.0) than any other player in America. He ranks in the top nationally in every passing category, as well as in total offense.
And in just three games in 2009, he has accounted for 1,157 yards, rushed for four touchdowns, passed for nine and thrown zero interceptions. He has started just 13 games in his collegiate career, but is on pace to obliterate long-standing Aggies records. Already, he has posted four of the school's top nine single-game total offense performances. He has four of the top six all-time single-game passing marks. He already has established the single-season record for touchdowns (24) and is on pace to become the all-time completions percentage leader.
Growing up in the Houston suburb of -- appropriately -- Humble, Texas, he was considered a pro prospect in baseball and basketball. As a sophomore in high school, Jerrod Johnson clocked 90-mph on the radar gun with his fastball. As a junior in high school, he earned a basketball scholarship to Texas A&M. But there's more to Jerrod than numbers and skills.
He is the son of a high school teacher and high school administrator. Pam and Larry Johnson's faith and compassion ran so deep they took in nearly two dozen foster children to raise with their own, Jerrod and his brother, Marquis, a former Prairie View A&M end now coaching strength and conditioning at Eastern Michigan. When Jerrod was 3, the state took custody of the child of one of Pam's friend. Pam's heart broke at the thought of the child not having a home. Larry and Pam went through foster parent training and raised the child until the state found a permanent home. From then on, the Johnsons gave foster children everything they could -- holiday parties, gifts, vacations, a church home, a family's love. They accepted kids of every age, so long as they were boys. Some of the children were infants. Some were young teens. Some were children of crack and heroine addicts. Some suffered from severe developmental and health issues. Some simply were abandoned. Some were Black, some were White, some were Brown. It never mattered.
Dad took on extra jobs to help pay for all the expenses of raising his boys and foster kids. A former Texas A&M safety and wide receiver, Larry Johnson became one of the Humble area's most beloved coaches and administrators. When Jerrod played elite summer-league basketball from 2002 to 2005, helping a Houston hoops team reach the AAU Elite Eight three consecutive years and the Final Four once, Larry Johnson was a volunteer assistant coach. The travel team featured such future Division I players as Jerrod, Arizona point guard Nic Wise, Nevada-Las Vegas forward Darris Santee, TCU guard Jason Ebie, Texas Tech forward Mike Singletary, Bucknell wing Stephen Tyree and Rice footballer Pierre Beasley.
Although the college football world is about to become impressed with what Jerrod Johnson has become. The one person he most wishes could be at Cowboys Stadium to watch the next step in this marvelous season, however, will not be there. In December 2007 while the Aggies were preparing for the Alamo Bowl and just months before starting his first game at quarterback, Jerrod received a call from his brother. He said he needed to come home because Larry was in the hospital. It was only after Jerrod arrived that he realized his father had suffered a massive stroke. Two days later, Larry died with his sons and wife by his side. At Larry's funeral, Jerrod spoke in detail of the lessons his father taught him. Marquis did an impeccable, humorous impersonation of how his boisterous, affable father would implore kids to always do the right thing. After the service, hundreds of former players and students greeted the family and shared stories of how "Mr. Johnson" affected their lives. A year later, the basketball court at Humble High was renamed Larry Johnson Court.
Larry Johnson never got to see his son start a college football game. But whenever Pam does, and every time someone else does, what they see is exactly what Larry Johnson wanted: a kid who treats everyone around him the same, no matter where they're from, what they look like or what's happened in the past. It's how he became one of the best college football stories you never knew.
No comments:
Post a Comment