SCOOBA — Last August, De’Andre Johnson had a critical decision to make.
He could sit back and watch a promising football career slip through his fingers, or he could make the most of a second opportunity and re-invent himself as a player and person.
He chose the second option.
On Sept. 1, East Mississippi Community College will open its 2016 season at Jones Junior College with Johnson the likely starter under center. After being out of a competitive football for more than a year, the long road traveled has an end in sight.
“It’s hard to fathom something you love more than anything being taken away from you for a year,” EMCC ninth-year coach Buddy Stephens said. “It has to be the worst feeling in the world. Do you get depressed, or do you look yourself in the mirror and realize it’s a minor setback and time to make changes to overcome that setback?”
Johnson threw for 11,585 yards and 122 touchdowns in four seasons as a starter at First Coast Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. He was proficient enough in the classroom to graduate early and enroll at his dream school, Florida State, in January 2015. He was in the FSU football program six months and his only action came in the 2015 FSU spring game.
What future Johnson had at FSU came crashing down when he was involved in a June 30 bar fight at Yianni’s nightclub in Tallahassee, Florida. He was charged with misdemeanor battery for punching a female bar patron in the face. A plea deal reached Dec. 11 resolved the charges. After video of the incident surfaced a week later, FSU removed Johnson from the football program.
A new beginning
Johnson had been projected to be the FSU starter in 2015 before his departure from the team. With a proven track record of success with Division I transfers with obstacles in the past, things fell into place in about four weeks to bring Johnson to Scooba.
“Being here in Scooba has really helped me psychologically,” Johnson told The Dispatch in his first media interview in more than a year. “It’s isolated. There is not much here. The EMCC football program has taken me in. The players and coaches have been great. … It really helped change my life around.”
Immediately, national writers took to Twitter to share disdain over someone accused of assault moving on and playing right away at another school. Stephens quickly clarified the situation last fall when he said Johnson would enroll in classes at EMCC, attend “mandatory counseling” and have an opportunity to join the team this season.
Monday, Stephens would not elaborate on how Johnson spent the past year but did say the quarterback had “excelled in the classroom and did a series of things off the field proving he was worthy of this opportunity.”
EMCC typically does not name a starting quarterback in the preseason. Offensive coordinator Marcus Wood said Johnson, Itawamba Agricultural High School freshman Vijay Miller and Noxubee County High freshman Timorrius Conner were all vying for the job.
“De’Andre is everything you look for in a leader,” Wood said. “He is a lunch-box type of guy. He puts great effort into everything he does. The players like him. He has done a great job of overcoming a lot. He will have a chance to compete here and then move into a very high level next year.
“It’s been a joy having him around here,” he added. “He is a lot like the other guys we have had in the past with a mistake in their past. Your life is changed, but you don’t let it be a mistake that defines you.”
Learning to lead
Last season, EMCC finished 8-1 and saw its quest for a third-straight National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) championship cut short when a season-ending brawl at Mississippi Delta C.C. banned the Lions from the postseason.
On game nights, Johnson sat in the press box and wore a headset, listening to the play calls of the offensive coaches. Quickly, he realized “this system is one where I can blossom. I can make this everything I want it to be.”
As soon as the brawl ended the season, EMCC went about the business of restoring its image. Johnson led the way.
“Total leader from day one,” EMCC sophomore running back Isiah Wright said. “Even before last season ended, he was leading. Even if he was not with the team on the field, he was leading. A special player. He will be writing his own success story this season.”
Former Starkville High running back Jacquez Horsley said Johnson has the unique sense of “knowing what to say to each player on the team.”
Last month, Netflix debuted the documentary series “Last Chance U,” highlighting the second-chance players at EMCC. Last season, C.J. Reavis earned All-America honors after being removed from Virginia Tech earlier in the year.
“The Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges has always been the home of second-chance opportunities,” EMCC Director of Athletics Randall Bradberry said. “We take a lot of pride in that.”
Stephens said EMCC President Thomas Huebner ultimately decided to allow Johnson to enroll. Bradberry said Huebner considers Johnson one of his favorite players and “has proven without a shadow of the doubt he is ready to make the most of a second opportunity.”
EMCC also has a track record of Division I success stories at quarterback. Randall Mackey and Bo Wallace played at Ole Miss. Dontreal Pruitt played at Troy. Chad Kelly overcame a shaky divorce with the Clemson program and is starting at Ole Miss. John Franklin III, who played for the Lions in 2015 after also transferring from FSU, is projected to start this season at Auburn.
Ready for Sept. 1
EMCC quarterbacks coach Clint Trickett helped bring Johnson into the fold. Trickett played at Florida State and Virginia Tech. His father is an assistant coach at Florida State.
Other than Trickett and Franklin III, Johnson said he knew very little about EMCC’s program before arriving.
“I have been amazed,” he said. “We have Division I talent at every position. We could line up and beat some senior colleges. I really believe that.”
Johnson said the disappointment of not being a star for his dream school was sharp but did not last long. Once enrolling at EMCC, the No. 1 goal became leading a new family. The disappointment faded more quickly when Johnson saw players with similar pasts in the locker room.
“It has all been about Sept. 1 for me,” Johnson said. “Since the first day I moved into the dorms here, it has been about Sept. 1. I never was down. I never was upset. Instead, I was determined. I was focused. I learned. I grew. I got better.”
While all second chances do not work out, Stephens felt good about this one even before Johnson enrolled on campus. This season, he will not be the only one atoning for past mistakes.
“De’Andre is a remarkable young man,” Stephens said. “We have a locker room full of remarkable young men. In sports, the negatives will always come to light more quickly than the positives. De’Andre is going to be a positive for us.
“In the future, we will look back on this season and be proud of what we have learned and the way we did things. De’Andre is not the only one ready for Sept. 1.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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