Get to know your new quarterback, Stephen Johnson
Darin Hinshaw found him
Who should you thank for bringing Johnson to Kentucky? Quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw. Right before Hinshaw was hired, Patrick Towles announced he was transferring, meaning that when Hinshaw got to Lexington, his first task was to find a backup quarterback with experience in case Drew Barker went down. After evaluating several JuCo quarterbacks, Hinshaw focused on Stephen Johnson out of College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California. “In the process I thought he was the best,” Hinshaw said of Johnson earlier this week. “For what we do offensively, I said, ‘this kid can really be a weapon.’”“Coach Hinshaw did a heck of a job. We definitely felt like we needed some experience there and we did look around,” Stoops said yesterday. “Once they brought in Stephen, and we looked at him, and brought him in on a visit, we were sold. I’m sure glad we have him right now.“
...says every UK football fan in the Bluegrass.He's a California boy
Johnson was born in Inglewood, California and attended Los Osos High in Rancho Cucamonga. He was recruited to Grambling State by then head coach Doug Williams, a former NFL quarterback. He sat out his freshman year in 2013, during which Williams was fired, and started the first four games in 2014 before suffering a high ankle sprain. Johnson was never able to get his starting job back, so in 2015, he looked elsewhere, finally settling on College of the Desert, coached by Jack Steptoe, who coached Johnson in some camps during high school and ultimately steered him towards Grambling State. If you're still wondering why College of the Desert, I mean, look at it: Who wouldn't want to go to school there?At College of the Desert, he ran the spread to perfection
In 2015, Johnson threw for 3,210 yards and a state-leading 34 touchdowns along with eight touchdowns rushing. All in all, he accumulated 3,639 yards of total offense while leading the Roadrunners to 37.5 points per game, a 6-4 record, and a share of the league title for the first time in over a decade. Johnson was named Mountain America Conference's Offensive Player of the Year, which earned him several offers from Division I programs across the country.He turned down Hawaii to come to Kentucky
Johnson ultimately picked Kentucky over Arkansas State and Hawaii, the latter of which you may know looks like this: Again, who wouldn't want to go to school there? I love Kentucky as much as anyone, but if you're going to offer me the chance to live in Hawaii for two years for free, I'm taking it. Thankfully, Johnson is much more pragmatic than me when it comes to such things and chose the chance to play at an SEC school over rainbows and palm trees. He was also smart enough to take an official visit to Hawaii before his making his decision, even if he claimed it was strictly business. “It was a quick visit, Saturday to Sunday,” Johnson told the Warrior Sports Network. “I really enjoyed it. I loved my visit while I was there. It’s a beautiful place and it seems like there is great football there. I didn’t even go on the beach. My mindset while I was there was that it was a business trip. No parties or anything like that, just sitting down with the coaches to talk about philosophy and schemes to find out if it would be the right spot for me.” If you ever doubt Johnson's loyalty, just remember that he chose us over paradise.He's a math geek
I am horrible at math, so I have a lot of respect for people who are good at it. In the UK Football media guide, Johnson says his non-sports talent is "excelling at math" and that dream job other than playing in the NFL is banking. Not only that, he's an agricultural economics major, which means, one day, he might be able to tell us what a hill of beans costs. I could probably twist Johnson's love of numbers into an explanation for why he is so calm and pragmatic on the field, but really, I just like when players admit they're a little bit nerdy.He can move the ball with his arm or his legs
Coming in, we knew Johnson was a dual-threat quarterback that could keep defenses honest with his feet, but I especially admire his toughness on this run:Johnson showed he can handle screens, short passes, etc., but one of the few knocks on his game coming into the season was his ability to throw the long ball. Johnson proved everyone wrong with this 54-bomb to Jeff Badet:Stephen Johnson is one tough son of a gun. #BBN pic.twitter.com/vyZ9XyMjLm
– Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) September 17, 2016
Stephen Johnson airing it out to Jeff Badet. #BBN pic.twitter.com/Zo8YrPmsRV
– Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) September 17, 2016
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