Ju’Juan Johnson is one of the most electric high school football players in Louisiana history. He started for four seasons at quarterback at Lafayette Christian. He made his mark on the LHSAA record books by throwing for an all-time high 14,451 yards and his 171 career total touchdowns is also a state record.
At five-foot-11, 200 pounds, he’s not tall enough to play quarterback in college, so he was ranked as one of the state’s top cornerbacks coming out of high school.
During preseason camp, Johnson was working as a safety.
An unfortunate injury to sixth-year senior running back John Emery has provided an opportunity for Johnson to get back on the offensive side of the ball.
Coach Brian Kelly said on Thursday they’ve moved Johnson to running back, because Emery’s injury left the Tigers with just three scholarship running backs.
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Kelly joked that Johnson would go on to win the Heisman. But he’ll at least provide some depth and it’s worth a shot to see what he can do at running back.
For four years at Lafayette Chrisitan, Johnson was a must watch player, very elusive, fast, shifty and one of those players who could produce points at a moment’s notice. He was certainly Mr. Excitement to go along with the Mr. Football Award he won for being the state’s top high school football player in 2023.
When Kelly was asked about Johnson in the spring, he talked about the challenge of figuring out what position Johnson could play, because he was talented and could do a variety of things.
It remains to be seen if Johnson will be a part of the running back rotation that features Josh Williams, Kaleb Jackson and Caden Durham, but he was buried on the depth chart as a safety and this is a chance for him to have impact on the 2024 Tigers after being the best high school player in the state last year.