Star student, standout athlete: Belleville East junior draws national attention
When the first full-ride offer came in, from Ball State, James Johnson “couldn’t believe it.” Now that he’s gotten more offers from bigger-name football schools, the Belleville East junior wide receiver and cornerback acknowledges he won’t be satisfied until the names of the schools get even bigger.
“Every day, that’s my dream, to hopefully get an offer from one of those schools,” Johnson said. “But for me, the end goal is to go to college.”
Johnson, 16, has more going for him than just football. He carries a 3.7 grade point average and excels especially in math. Right now, the numbers are all adding up to what appears to be a bright future for the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Johnson.
“I’ve told a lot of college coaches that he is the ideal high school kid that you want. He’s our team leader. As a freshman and sophomore, he was the one hanging around older varsity guys, but also sitting by himself watching film and also sitting by himself saying, ‘Hey, I’ve got to get my homework done so I can concentrate on all the football stuff,’” Belleville East coach Michael Harrison said. “He’s a kid who’s really all about business, it’s almost weird. He’s a little bit different, because he doesn’t care about all that other “stuff.” He doesn’t care about just hangin’ out. He wants to do extra workouts and throw the ball around, and the other guys just follow him because he’s always doing the right thing.”
Harrison said most Mid-American Conference teams, such as Ball State and Miami of Ohio, have already offered Johnson full rides for football. Now, he said, teams in the Big Ten, including Illinois, are interested in scheduling recruiting visits. Will the SEC and other Power Four conferences start reaching out?
“If you’re a good football player, they’ll find you. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing,” Harrison said.
The Lancers are off to a 3-0 start, and in Friday’s 31-17 victory over crosstown rival Althoff Catholic, Johnson caught five passes for 142 yards and had five tackles. Johnson has the ability, Harrison thinks, to pick what side of the ball he’d like to play on in college.
“This off-season, he asked to play some defense and when I watch him on defense and, I hate to say it, but he might be better on defense,” Harrison said. “He’s very physical and has great instincts.”
Asked which position he’d choose if he had to, Johnson said it would be wide receiver.
“But as an athlete, I’m a sore loser. So, I’ll play defense if it’s what will most help my team win,” Johnson said. “But I was talking to a (college) coach and he told me, ‘DBs, they get the job done, but wide receivers, they make the news. So, do you what to be the head cover or do you just want to make the papers?’ And, I want to be the head cover.”
Johnson does not come off as someone who thinks he’s more important than other teammates. As a kid, he said, he only played sports for fun. But starting around his freshman year, he became single-minded about being excellent in football – though he also plays basketball for the Lancers.
“As I got older, I realized how good I could be, and how good I am,” he said.
As a sophomore, he caught 40 passes for 602 yards (15.1 average) and wants to far surpass that the rest of the season. Right now, he has 13 catches for 195 yards (15.0).
“I feel like it’s going to be a really great year for us. Beating (Althoff) was a big win and really sets us up nice,” Johnson said. “But coach drills into our brains not to get too high or too low. So, that’s what we’ve been going off of this past week.”
Johnson credits his father, also named James, and mother, Beverly, for raising him with love.
“A lot of people have helped me get this far, and I also want to try and be an example for other younger kids,” Johnson said. “I know there’s more I still need to do.”