Senior cornerback Henry Johnson leaves the field on a Tuesday afternoon in the waning minutes of the Colonels’ practice.Walking towards the entrance to the practice area in his red jersey with his helmet unstrapped but still on, Johnson cannot stay until practice concludes because he has to go to class. Just as opposing teams test him on the football field, so will his Finance 405 Commercial Banking instructor tonight.
“It’s tough,” Johnson says about managing his time between football and school. “You have to use all the spare time you have to study and take it a segment at a time, and usually I get it done.”
The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame recognized Johnson by naming him one of 184 semifinalists-including 20 from Division I-AA-for the 2005 Draddy Trophy on Oct. 4. Referred to as the “Academic” Heisman, the trophy honors an athlete who best exemplifies excellence in his academic success, football performance and community service.
Head football coach Jay Thomas says Johnson takes control of his academics and time on the field.
“He’s been a starter here for four years, and he’s been able to maintain his grade-point average,” Thomas says. “It’s his business. He’s the CEO of his education and the way he plays on the field.”
Thomas says he has a sense of pride about Johnson’s achievement like a father would have towards his son.
“He’s been here five years in our program,” Thomas says. “He’s been a guy we’ve felt like we’ve raised. Of course, he comes from a good family, so he already had some of that when he got here. He just cultivated it himself with hard work and a work ethic.”
Sports information director for men’s athletics Michelle Fakier said there is no record of any other athlete being nominated for this award.
In his high school days, Johnson attended Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero. Thomas says Shaw is a “very academic school.”
At an early age, Johnson’s mother Deborah made sure her son knew football was secondary to academics.
“Even when I was playing Pee-Wee ball, if I didn’t do well on a test in elementary school, she would tell me: ‘Well you know you can’t play this game. You’re not going to the park this weekend,'” Johnson says on his way to change for the test that awaits him.
Things have not appeared to change much from his elementary days.
Sophomore cornerback Jermaine Boggan, who is No. 2 behind Johnson on the Colonels’ depth-chart at cornerback, says Johnson can be found using his laptop or studying on game day. Boggan says Johnson also watches game film often.
“You can’t do anything but look up to a guy like that,” Boggan says about his teammate’s influence on the younger players. “He’s on top of everything he does.”
Besides his mother, Johnson also contributes his success to his sister, who has aided her brother from a business perspective. His sister, who is employed at Citigroup, has helped her brother come to the understanding that “knowledge is power,” which he says he believes.
The 15 finalists for the Draddy Trophy will be announced Oct. 27, and the overall winner will be named Dec. 6 at the 48th NFF Awards Dinner in New York City.
To be eligible for the award, semifinalists must be classified as either seniors or graduate students in their last year of eligibility, have at least a 3.0 grade point average on a four-point scale, hold a starting spot in the football field and show strong leadership and citizenship. Johnson holds a 3.08 as an accounting major.
Johnson says he would rather win the 24-inch, 25-pound bronze trophy and $25,000 post-graduate scholarship instead of the well-known version of the Heisman, awarded to the best collegiate football player, simply because it would show the fruition of his mother’s hard work.
On the playing field, Colonels’ defensive coordinator Charles Kelly says Johnson can play nickelback, strong safety or free safety besides his normal cornerback position. In his 15 years of coaching, Kelly says Johnson is the first four-year starter he has coached.
Johnson expects to graduate in December and says he will attend graduate school for accounting if he does not have the opportunity to play in the NFL.
And as for the finance test:
“I think I did fairly well,” Johnson says a few days following the exam. “I knew the general answers to all the questions.
