An Unexpected Emergence: Andre Johnson making an impact in the preseason

Entering the first week of Arizona State’s preseason practices in early October, several position groups' outlook was shrouded in uncertainty. The ASU receiving core was particularly monitored when practices began.

The Sun Devil wideouts have been exceptional over the past two seasons. Led by back-to-back first-round draft-picks in 2019 and 2020, N’Keal Harry and Brandon Aiyuk, ASU has established itself as a legitimate destination for wide receivers. Current redshirt senior, Frank Darby, is considered one of the best at his position in the Pac-12.

ASU’s 2020 class of receivers is a perfect example of the trailblazing the former wideouts have created to open opportunities for Arizona State to continue to be successful. Several California recruits of four-star caliber have been making their first and formidable impressions in Tempe this month; however, it’s not just all about the newcomers. Several returners have also tapped into the competition, including a local receiver who is coming off a redshirt season.

Standing at 6-foot-3, Andre Johnson is not hard to miss on the gridiron. A local prospect out of Tolleson Union High School in West Phoenix, Johnson played both sides of the ball in his prep career, shining at wideout while also having impressive production playing corner and safety.

Johnson’s affinity for the game is rooted in his relationship with his brother, Trey, who was his first football inspiration.

However, Johnson loved the sport even more after he first touched the pigskin in-game. He became accustomed to playing along the sideline in high school, but his first real football “touch” came at age five when he played running back for a flag football team called the “War Eagles.”

“I remember being the running back,” Johnson recalled. “They handed me the ball to the left, and I ran a cool 15 yards and pulled my flag, that was my first time.”

As a child, Johnson always “talked the talk” about going pro, boasting he was going to make it to NFL and get paid to play football, however, the dream wasn’t a tangible possibility until much later in Johnson’s career.

“(Football) didn’t start getting serious for me until my freshman year in high school,” Johnson explained. “That’s when I realized that I could actually make it. That’s when I realized that I’m good enough and I’m coachable enough to actually try to get to the league.”

In high school, Johnson was omnipotent at receiver, and in the secondary, catching passes on the offensive side before flipping the switch and stifling aerial attacks on defense. The duality of the two positions and their applications to one another was also a key factor in Johnson’s football development.

“First off, (playing both sides of the ball) was very tiring,” Johnson chuckled. “I thought was a lot of fun, though, because it helped me figure out both perspectives of being a receiver and being a corner. It helped me realize a lot of things on both sides to help me become a better receiver now because I know what corners are looking for, what the coaches are looking for. I know how to maneuver around certain coverages.”

Johnson’s diversity as a player was on full display in his sophomore homecoming game at Tolleson Union against Valley Vista. Down 26-16 late in the contest, Johnson, who was playing defense exclusively at the time, lined up on the edge on an opposing punt. As the ball was snapped, Johnson timed his rush perfectly and came free off the edge. Time seemed to slow as Johnson closed in on Vista’s punter. Johnson blocked the punt, freeing the ball into open space. Johnson’s teammate, Ignacio Valdez, picked up the ball and returned the blocked punt for a score, igniting the team on a potential two-score comeback that ultimately came up short.

Johnson, who had only received minimal playing time as a sophomore beforehand, had now arrived on the varsity level. For the remainder of his high school career, Johnson lit up the Wolverines’ stat sheet. As a junior and senior, Johnson racked up back-to-back years with 1,000+ all-purpose yards, with 1,020 and 1,193,respectively. In his senior year, Johnson caught 42 passes for 730 yards and eight touchdowns as a receiver. On defense, he tallied 37 tackles and seven interceptions, tied for the most at the 6A-level. Three of those seven interceptions were pick-sixes, allowing for 204 total interception return yards for the young ironman-type player. On special teams, Johnson blocked six extra points and five field goals, while also taking one kick return all the way back for a score.

Out of all of his contributions, Johnson was recognized the most for his defensive prowess, making the AZFCA All-6A First Team as a senior as a defensive back. He was also recognized with a 2018 Arizona Football Coaches Association Big 25 selection at the defensive flex spot and was distinguished by the coaches as one of the Top 25 players in the state regardless of division.

Johnson’s performances began to grab the attention from colleges entering the summer ahead of his senior year. Following a successful seven-on-seven tournament circuit against several of his current ASU teammates, such as wide receiver Ricky Pearsall and linebacker Connor Soelle, Johnson received a call from Division II-affiliated Bemidji State University in Minnesota.

BSU’s coaching staff had received a tip from an anonymous source in Arizona about Johnson and his abilities. To this day, Johnson ironically still doesn’t know who directed the Division II school to take an interest in him.

However, Johnson’s next and final offer came following ASU’s annual seven-on-seven tournament, when former ASU wide receiver coach Charlie Fisher talked to Johnson on the phone. For a young receiver who grew up just 40 minutes away from Sun Devil Stadium, this was exactly the call he was yearning for.

“I knew I wanted to come here, there wasn’t any other school that I really wanted to go to,” Johnson said of ASU. “I’m from here, so I wanted to play in front of my friends and family. I had already been on campus, and I had seen what it’s about, and the campus is beautiful.”

Johnson committed to ASU fairly early in the recruiting cycle, announcing his decision via Twitter in July of 2018.

Johnson arrived as a true freshman in Tempe in the fall of 2019 and contributed in practice throughout the year, developing his collegiate skills and learning the ins and outs of the program. While he was recruited to play receiver, he was asked before practices started if he wanted to play defense. Johnson preferred to stick to the offensive side of the ball and did so, seeing action in three games there, as well as on special teams across the latter half of ASU’s conference schedule.

In late February of this year, during spring practices, Johnson emerged as one of Jayden Daniels’ favorite targets, turning heads left and right. Johnson had worked with backup quarterback Trenton Bourguet for the most part in 2019 but shifting to catching passes from Daniels required Johnson to alter his focus.

“His spiral is a little bit tighter; he’s just more of a true NFL-type quarterback so evolving to how he throws and what he’s reading and how he thinks, it’s pretty cool,” Johnson said of his starting signal-caller. “I’m just trying to transfer from quarterback to quarterback, so I have to step up my game in order to reach his expectations.”

While adapting to Daniels’ throws may not be a remedial task; Johnson’s duties as an ASU receiver has become easier due to the help of wide receivers’ coach Prentice Gill. Johnson, who was extremely skilled as a defensive back and used his defensive knowledge to improve his offensive skill set found Gill’s guidance even more eye-opening to understanding the mind of a defender.

“He’s helped out a lot. He explained how to read defenses, how to read the little details of a defender, and what they’re taught to do,” Johnson noted. “He knows a lot about football, he knows how to (verbalize) what he’s thinking, and honestly, football is a lot more complicated than I thought because he showed us a lot of things that we didn’t really think about.”

A paradox of sorts, Gill has made Johnson’s view of football more complicated, yet easier through analysis and added understanding. Johnson’s comprehension of the game is also being tested in Zak Hill’s multi-scheme offense that seems growingly complex as ASU trots toward its Nov. 7 opener against USC.

“Knowing what (Hill) wants to do to defenses to stress them out and spread the field, it’s actually helped us out a lot,” Johnson explained. “Just knowing what offensive coordinators like him want to do against certain defenses and knowing who and where the ball needs to be placed in order to be a successful team has really helped me a lot to realize how much actually goes into the mental aspect of football.”

Despite Johnson’s increased knowledge of his role and the players tasked to defend him, needless to say, the redshirt freshman still has to go out and prove himself on the field. Johnson is one of several members of the receiver room engaged in a position battle for a starting spot. Johnson in specific is competing with the premier acquisition of the budding 2020 class of receivers, 6-foot-7 Johnny Wilson.

Coincidentally, Wilson and Johnson are ASU’s tallest receivers on the roster, both competing to be the proverbial mismatch receiving target for Daniels.

However, for Johnson, the talented, tension-charged wide receiver room is not something by which he is discouraged. The redshirt freshman is rather quite motivated to perform at his highest level and maybe surprise some people along the way with his skill set, just like he caught the Valley Vista’s punter by surprise on homecoming four years ago.

“There’s a lot of competition, everyone feels it in the room,” Johnson admitted. “Nobody’s spot is really secure. Everybody has a chip on their shoulder right now. The (players) who are getting playing time just want to make sure that we aren’t messing up because there’s a dude right behind us, and we know that. Overall, we’re all just trying to stay on our feet and focus on what we need to do so we can have a successful year.”

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