Even the strongest of human beings will eventually admit it is extremely difficult to take your lumps each and every week and not have a breaking point. Some weeks’ things just don’t go your way and you learn from it and move on. In a district such as Lennard High’s, successive weeks of that kind of scenario can spiral completely out of control like a freight train trying to be stopped with its feet from a “Flintstones” episode.
Longhorns Quarterback Diontae Johnson is proving that no matter what happened last season that is last season; past tense. No more talk of being the butt-end of jokes after a 1-9 season and losing end of some of the most lopsided scores you can imagine in the present.
The Class of 2015 5-foot-11, 162-pounder looks and acts like the kind of leader this program has been searching for in the offseason. Johnson’s performances at BCP’s combines and invitation-only events has been nothing short of spectacular; but what good does it do him if he’s on a team that “could” be headed towards another season of “adversity” with teams such as Armwood, Hillsborough, Robinson and Jefferson?
Although the line of questioning begins a legitimate conversation about poise, leadership and commitment, neither Johnson nor any of us actually know how this season will play out or how he and his teammates will react since they are still three weeks from lining up in the preseason classic. Yet this young man seems to have hit the “easy button” when it comes to dialing-in the approach to this season for himself, his teammates, and his school.
“All we can do is start each day knowing we are getting better and all we’ve got to do is pay our coaches back like being in the weight room and putting in that effort each and every day,” said Johnson. “They are putting in the work for us, and we just need to keep focusing on playing our game and not worrying about what anyone has to say about us or our record or anything else. Everybody likes to talk about us going 1-9 last year and I’ve put that in the past and now focused on what the team goals are for this season. We’re not worried about anybody else. ”
One can become an instant skeptic since in the offseason hope springs eternal, right? However the soft-spoken yet poignantly stated Johnson made his case for proving the skeptic into believer as he threaded his point like the needles he’s been threading with the football this summer. Just because Ruskin is located somewhere between Apollo Beach and the corner of the Earth next door to Mars, and just because his team might not have the same panache that their district-mates posses, it would be wise not to doubt them or mess with the bull and get the ‘horns.
“We just keep coming out here every day practicing at getting better with what our coaches our going over with us, and keep focusing on the mindset of attacking teams like we want to. We don’t need to try and do too much, either. We have to get focused on the first game and that’s East Bay. We have to go into the games with the same mindset every week and that’s doing what we do best as a team.”
So if the Longhorns and their loyal fan base are to experience what it is Johnson and his teammates are planning to accomplish, then what will he have to specifically do in order to turn this thing around? He already has the physical tools to provide the foundation, and after this summer he is apparently committed to proving he has what you can’t teach and that is “how” to be a leader; something that will be paramount for college coaches to see and hear immediately after reviewing his tape. Johnson is already adamant that it is about his team, but he understands there is a business to this whole thing.
“I’ve personally been focusing on school and getting my grades up, and I’ve been working really hard in the weight room is the main thing. Getting stronger is the main goal. From doing pushups at night to going to the beach and working in the sand with footwork drills, getting stronger on and off the field is been my focus.”
And what about the attention to details? Another trait that proves you are a leader, not just referencing you as being one. “I like to throw the deep ball mostly. The route I’m working on the most right now is the slant. I mostly get it to the back shoulder, so I’m trying to get that to the front shoulder obviously; the other throw is the 5-yd out and the timing with it that I’m working on this summer as well. I’ve been working on footwork and accuracy whether it’s two-ball, three-ball, whatever.”
With all of that in mind, Johnson still knows that just like everything else in life, this game, his schoolwork, and his preparation for this season is going to come down to the same piece of advice that has rung true throughout time. Thank you goes a long way and the idea behind this advice is what you say when you can’t exactly “say” it.
“Never stop working. Keep grinding and just doing your thing. Don’t stop working and things will come and that it’s about patience, really. My friend is a receiver at FIU and he texts me daily staying on top of me about schoolwork and about picking up on what my coaches are teaching me trying to make sure I’m doing the right thing.”
– Doug Pugh