LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – A few months back, Tyrese Johnson-Fisher put on a football helmet for the first time. He struggled to solve the chin strap and tried to get used to the feel before realizing it didn’t fit and finding a replacement.
Thursday, he’ll put on a different helmet. Only this time, once it’s on, he’ll line up at running back and try to beat defensive linemen and linebackers set to play next season at Alabama, LSU, Texas and Ohio State.
A football novice, Johnson-Fisher has, in a sense, been handed a pair of boxing gloves and stumbled into a ring with Mike Tyson. He’s prepared to take a punch or two. His hope is that his counter-punches, which will be televised on ESPN at 6 p.m. ET Thursday when the Under Armour All-America Game kicks off, are enough to land him football scholarships.
“A couple colleges are telling me they are going to be looking at me in the game,” Johnson-Fisher said. “I’d say it’s a tryout for me. It’s a tough tryout with the best of the best, I guess. I’m just hoping to show that I have acceleration and have that power and be able to get a couple offers.”
The European rugby phenom has long since made a name overseas. He’s already being considered for a professional rugby contract in his native U.K., and his highlight videos have millions of views online. The fact that he ranks third in England with a 100-meter time of 10.73 seconds also helped him get invited here, 4,300 miles away from home, where he sits at a table in a room full of reporters and seasoned American football players who boast long lists of scholarship offers.
NO PUBLICITY STUNT
Is Johnson-Fisher out of place? More than a little.
Is he intimidated? If he is, he hides it spectacularly. Then again, it takes a certain measure of confidence to be willing to forsake a possible professional rugby contract for a chance to play a sport you love but barely know.
“I think that the things I have will transfer quite nicely,” Johnson-Fisher said to a horde of cameras and audio recorders Saturday. “I understand everyone here has been doing this for years and I’ve only been doing it for months, but I think the skills are similar.”
But skepticism is in no short supply. The reporters and scouts in attendance at this week’s pregame practices point out that Johnson-Fisher attempts to bounce to the outside on every carry. Some see his being here as a simple gimmick. Billy Tucker is not one of those people.
Tucker heads up the UA All-America Game selection committee and says he learned of Johnson-Fisher during a business trip to the UK and watched his highlight video when he received word of his athletic exploits. From there, things moved quickly. To Tucker, this is no publicity stunt. It’s an opportunity – and a well-deserved one at that.
“There was a lot of buzz about the kid,” Tucker said. “And then I met some guys from NFL International. They were like, ‘You gotta see this kid. You gotta see this kid. Oh, and he wants to play football.’ He had never put on a helmet at that time, but looking at that video we knew his skills would transfer over. It didn’t take long to look at his rugby video, and see those transferrable skills. A lot of college coaches wanted to get a look at what he could do playing football.”
POTENTIAL IS THERE
A longtime football fan, Johnson-Fisher has attended a pair of the games the NFL has hosted in London, and says his favorite player is Adrian Peterson. Still, watching the sport is one thing. Playing it – especially at this level – is another matter. Johnson-Fisher has only been preparing for his first football game since September, when he began training with Tony Allen, an ex-NFL International employee that runs a community football program in London, where Johnson-Fisher lives.
“He was less than a mile away from where our program is,” Allen said of Johnson-Fisher. “But we knew who he was. He plays for a strong academy for Rugby players – for really elite athletes. So when he told us what he wanted to do we told him, ‘You better tell them first.’ He told them and they said 'OK, go chase your dream. Do what you want to do. And if things don’t work out, we’ll sit down again.'
“You have concerns because of his lack of football background but he’s showing well here so far. He got a lot of touches and is adjusting to the speed of the game. ... He’s just an athlete. He’s a work-hard kid that learns quick.”
The adjustment hasn’t exactly been seamless. At one point during a UA All-America Game practice, Johnson-Fisher dropped a live ball and visibly struggled to determine whether or not he should pick it up. But the flashes of elite athleticism and sky-high potential have been just as obvious as his learning curve. There’s a reason he already holds an offer from Coastal Carolina and has received passing interest from a heap of major conference programs.
“He’s made some good plays and the other kids here have really embraced him,” Tucker said. “It’s been amazing to watch him. He makes a nice run or a play and the whole team goes crazy.”
But the story is more than just a fun side plot in the mind of Johnson-Fisher. To him, it’s about accomplishing something he sees as bigger than the rugby career that seems to be there for the taking back home. In his mind, his journey is one toward transcendence.
“Everybody in England see football players as the best of the best because they know that with rugby and with soccer, you only have certain traits,” Johnson-Fisher said. “In football, you have to use all of those traits combined. So if anyone from England can make it in college football and into the league, it’s impressive. There’s a lot that comes with it.”
The road is uphill, sure, but it’s certainly not impossibly steep. And once Thursday’s nationally televised game kicks off, a rugby star with very little football experience will be one big play away from finding himself on an American college campus, and possible televisions everywhere, next fall.
