SPORTS

Bruceton’s Johnson wanting to impact Tigers, go to college

Brandon Shields
bjshields@jacksonsun.com

BRUCETON - Running back Zayveon Johnson has dealt with frustration and adversity all his life, and playing football for Bruceton has become a way for him to work through the anger he feels from all he’s dealt with.

“Growing up in Smyrna, I’ve been told all my life that people from where I come from are druggies and stupid and never amount to anything because people from my area don’t do anything with their lives,” Johnson said.

Hearing that kind of talk in his direction in addition to growing up without either of his parents caused him to grow up an unhappy boy.

“I was all the time angry and doing things I didn’t want to do for no reason,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t stay in elementary school, and I was getting a paddling every day in middle school.

“All of my coaches I’ve ever had kept pushing me to be better and were hard on me because they saw potential. Then one day I just broke down crying in middle school because I was dealing with so much stuff.”

Johnson has had plenty to deal with. He said he knows what it’s like to go home and have nothing to eat except Ramen noodles. He also knows the emotional impact of finding out the reality he grew up with was actually false.

“I grew up like everybody else, but I thought my parents were older than everybody else,” Johnson said. “Then Christmas time when I was 10 years old, this guy came to our house and called me son.”

The parents he’d grown up with were actually Johnson’s grandparents – Ben and Villa Owens. Johnson’s parents didn’t feel capable of raising him when he was born, so his grandparents took him in and raised him. It was him along with a few other cousins and siblings who have all spent time living with their grandparents growing up.

“My grandfather was the only father figure I knew and the same with my grandmother as they raised me in a trailer in Smyrna, and then my dad just comes back in and tells me that,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

What followed were a few years of staying in and out of trouble as Johnson struggled to make it through life without quality relationships with either of his parents. His mother, Shantae Parker, returned to get to know Johnson after his father, Tremaine, did. Tremaine lives in Smyrna, a small community between Bruceton and Clarksburg. Shantae is in Atlanta.

“I have good relationships with them now, but my grandparents are who I stay with and I’m closer to them,” Johnson said.

Johnson has good relationships with the coaches at Bruceton too, and he credits them with helping mentor him and channel his rage on the football field on Friday nights. Tigers head coach Jamie Williams mentioned in a couple of interviews about how much Johnson has matured over the course of his high school football career.

“Football has given me that place where I can take out every bit of anger,” Johnson said. “When I run and someone wants to tackle me, they might bring me down, but I’ll give them a big dose of me and they’ll feel it.”

Johnson is listed on his profile on Hudl.com as being six feet tall and 210 pounds. He was clocked at a camp at Arkansas State with a 4.3 40-yard dash time, so a dose of him on a defender could be painful. He’s helped the Tigers to a 6-3 record by rushing for 1,834 yards on 193 carries with 28 touchdowns. His yardage and touchdown totals lead rural West Tennessee according to stats turned in to the Sun.

“When I’m out there, I’m not angry, but I am hungry,” Johnson said. “I’ve dealt with my anger and learned how to use it for my good.

“I grew up in church and believe in an almighty God that won’t let me take on more than I can bear with His help. So I trust God and try to stay out of trouble.”

In addition to improving his behavior off the field, he’s improving his performance in the class room.

“I got a slow start academically, and I’ve been busting my butt to catch up,” Johnson said. “And I’ve still got work to do. My GPA is a 2.83, and I want to make it a 3.1 before I graduate. My ACT score is a 14, but I took it again this week and hope I did better.

“Because of the sliding scale with getting into college, I hope I just need a 16 or 17 to get in to college somewhere. But I’m trying to get the highest grade I can. I’m just not a good test-taker.”

Johnson doesn’t have any college offers yet, but he holds on to hope based on the experience of someone else from Smyrna local football fans will remember.

“Everybody says no one from Smyrna ever amounts to anything, but [Bruceton alumus, former Ole Miss Rebel and San Francisco 49er] Patrick Willis is from Smyrna,” Johnson said. “His grandma and my grandma are sisters, and I kind of know him.

“But I’m doing what I’m going to do and will keep working like I did in the summer to make myself better for me and my team. That’s all I’m worried about right now, and I’ll let everything else take care of itself when I’m done with football.”

Johnson and the Tigers take on Huntingdon this week. The winner will be the Region 6-1A runner-up. The loser will finish third.

“It’s a big game, and I know both teams will go in to that one hungry,” Johnson said.

Brandon Shields, 425-9751