The hurdler: Texas ATH overcomes odds
In football as in life, there are some major hurdles to leap over before success will come. Some of those hurdles are taller than others. Just ask Abilene, Texas, standout athlete Marcus Johnson about that.
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You see, Johnson, who is 6-foot and 175 pounds, isn’t your typical football recruit. And he’s also not your typical kid.
Johnson grew up without parents there supporting him every step of the way, and he had to live most of his life with foster parents and on the support of others.
“I grew up without a dad and my mom has had a pretty hard time,” Johnson said.
“Because of that, I’ve lived with my parents – well my foster parents. I never had anybody come to any of my games.”
But along the way Johnson was able to leap over the hurdle presented to him with a little help from his “family” and other people in the community that helped support him.
“There always seemed to be somebody there for me – even when it seemed like there wouldn’t be,” Johnson said. “There was always a father figure or a grown man there to help pick me up when I would fall.
“There was always somebody there to help me do the right thing.”
And many times that father figure ended up being a football coach.
Johnson rattled off the names of the coaches that he’s played for in his time and said each and every one of them made a difference in helping him get to the level where he’s at now.
A level that includes scholarship offers from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. But Johnson is focused on something else right now, instead of football recruiting.
“I want to pay back everybody that has helped me in a way,” he said.
That way is to become a football coach himself.
“I just want to be a coach and want to teach them about doing things the right way,” Johnson said softly. “I want them to be able to be a success like I’ve been. I want to be there and support the kids and be there at their games like my coaches were for me.”
If he’s as successful as he’s been on the gridiron so far then his dream will become a reality.
Johnson paced all District 4-5A players in total offense with 2,233 yards on the season. That included 1,713 yards passing and 853 yards rushing in 12 games. He threw 14 touchdown strikes, and added 10 more scores as a rusher.
“He’s a very exciting player,’’ Abilene coach Steve Warren told the Abilene Reporter News. “He’s got a unique ability to take a bad play and turn it into a good one on any given play. You need guys like that to be able to win, and he provided that for us.
“He’s got great feet. His vision is really good, too. He’s just got a knack to be able to see people coming and make them miss.’’
With those gaudy stats and great plays, Johnson has become one of the fastest-rising prospects in the state of Texas. After further film review, Rivals100 is giving serious consideration to a four-star rating and honors as one of the top 250 players in the nation.
But at what position? That’s another hurdle that Johnson is going to have to overcome.
Johnson is the star quarterback at Abilene, however, he can project at a number of different positions.
“Oklahoma and Texas want me at receiver,” Johnson said. “And guys like Arkansas and Texas A&M and Texas Tech like me at quarterback.
“In a way, I’d like to play quarterback, but I’m also being realistic. If I play quarterback, I want to be able to go to a place that’s going to develop me into an NFL type guy. I want to be a go-to-man. I don’t like watching things on the sidelines and want to be in the middle of things.
“If there is a better chance of that happening at receiver, then I’m fine with that. I just want to be in the middle of it all.”
So he can leap over another hurdle and reach his dream of being a coach and playing in the NFL.