French Camp’s C.J. Johnson might have been overlooked on the football field the last two years. But that won’t be the case for the senior quarterback this season. Johnson, who rushed for 1,155 yards last year as the Panthers went 3-8, recently announced that he was committed to play football for the Naval Academy, picking the Midshipmen over four other offers from four-year schools. French Camp coach Nathan Wright had nothing but praise for his senior quarterback, who also had offers from Idaho, Jackson State, Alcorn State and Louisiana-Monroe. “I’m proud for him,” Wright said. “He deserves a shot. He has taken care of the little things that he was supposed to do. He’s academically superior all the way. He will be 4.0 all the way and top of the class and you would like to see a kid like that have a chance to be rewarded. I can’t say anything negative about C.J.” Johnson is not only a standout on the field, but in the classroom as well. Johnson sports a 4.0 GPA and made a 31 on the ACT as a sophomore. He currently ranks at the top of his class at the academically rigorous French Camp. Johnson said he realizes what he’s getting into with his commitment to the Naval Academy, which is considered one of the best academic schools in the country. “They are telling me that it’s very tough academically and then there is the military part,” Johnson said. “Then along with athletics, it’s an opportunity that many hope for but very few get. With such a great opportunity, there are going to be some difficulties that go along with that. I don’t like taking the easy route. I know with high rewards, there is going to be a hard path.” Everything wasn’t easy for Johnson last year as the Panthers struggled to a 3-8 season as Johnson learned the quarterback position where he threw for 720 yards on 46-of-131 passing with six TDs after playing receiver as a sophomore. “Last year, he had to play quarterback and that was not our first choice,” Wright said. “He was a guy that you would have liked to moved to other positions to get him the football out in space but we needed him to do that last year and he stepped up and did it. He is a super intelligent kid and he can handle anything that you put on him.” Despite the early struggles, Johnson finished strong for the Panthers, who won two out of the last three games. In those three games, Johnson rushed for 636 yards on 54 carries, including a 331-yard effort on 18 carries in a 45-20 win over Vardaman. “He got a lot better the second half of the year,” Wright said. “We had some struggles last year. C.J. threw the long ball really well but he struggled with the short passing game and would miss some throws we would have liked to had.” Johnson admits that things were difficult at times last year. “It was pretty rough,” Johnson said. “The first year was a bit of a learning curve, getting used to trying to read things. You can practice that but it’s not like the game. As I got more experience, I felt a lot more comfortable the second half of the season. I’m looking forward to this season now that I have a year under my belt. I thought things got better middle way through the year. I started to read the option plays a little bit better and make better passes. Things just slowed down a bit and started to click a little bit better.” Johnson is also a two-way starter, playing safety on defense where he was third on the team with 61 tackles last year and tied for the team high with four interceptions. As a sophomore, Johnson started on defense and had 36 tackles. As a matter of fact, several schools were recruiting Johnson to play on the defensive side of the football at safety and cornerback. “He brings it on the defensive side as well,” Wright said. “We play him at safety and he comes up when we need him to come up and can drop into coverage and knock balls down. He is just a go-getter. He thinks the game and is highly intelligent and gets to where he needs to be. He has confidence and some folks may say that is arrogance but I’ve never seen him be arrogant. He is humble, but confident and I think that describes him well. He is going to bring his A-game every game and give you that every game.” While he is being recruited at multiple positions, Johnson said Navy wants him at quarterback in their option-based offense. Johnson got on Navy’s recruiting screen when Holmes Community College head coach Raymond Gross contacted the service academy about the talented player from the small 1A Mississippi private school. Gross played at Georgia Southern where he played for Ivin Jasper, who is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Navy. “We do some of everything and we run some option,” Wright said. “I have told him that offense at Navy, it’s built to run that. If we had the wing guys we would run that offense because that’s my favorite offense. He has run a lot of run and speed stuff and he will fit that perfectly. He has a frame where he can put on a little more weight and he will need to do that if he is going to be the quarterback at Navy. He is tough enough and confident enough that he can get through whatever.” Johnson realizes it’s going to be a change when he gets to Annapolis but thinks that French Camp has helped prepare him for what he’s about to see “I think it’s going to be a culture shock at first,” Johnson said. “I have been talking to some other commits so I won’t go in not knowing anybody. I think I will be able to get used to it because it’s more structured than most college and we have some pretty good structure here a French Camp and I think that will help me. Often in high school, the best athletes play quarterback at small schools but are often moved to other positions when they get to college, something that Johnson was curious about when Navy started recruiting him. “I asked if they were intending on moving me to another position,” Johnson said. “The quarterbacks coach and the offensive coordinator both contacted me and told me they wanted me to play quarterback. I asked if they were interested in me playing another position and they said no, that they wanted me at quarterback.” Johnson is also a standout on the basketball court as well where he led French Camp in scoring at 19.1 points a game. Outside of school, Johnson said he enjoys playing video games and has a passion for cars that he shares with his father, who is a retired hospital administrator. “I like to play video games and I like cars,” Johnson said. “I have a 2015 SS Camaro. I share that passion with my dad. He has a 1969 SS Camaro. Most of the cars I like are the exotic cars like the Lamborghini, the McLarens. I watch YouTube videos on those all the time. That really interests me.” As for a career, Johnson said he is looking really hard at medicine and following his mother’s footsteps, who is a doctor at Mississippi State. More than wins and losses and yardage this upcoming season, Johnson sees his role very clearly. “I see myself as one of the top leaders and to inspire other people around me,” Johnson said. “I want to leader the other guys and the younger guys. We have a lot of experience come back this year and have some freshmen and other players coming in that seem like they could help us a good bit. I just want to help lead them and help them with the culture that we have going on.”
