Texas Tech football's Jah'Shawn Johnson pivots from player to coach
For the past two Texas Tech football seasons, sharp-eyed Red Raiders fans could still spot Jah'Shawn Johnson among the team's defensive backs. Johnson no longer wears jersey No. 7, and five years have passed since he last put on the pads.
The game-day rush can still be his, though, serving as a graduate assistant coach on the Texas Tech defensive staff.
Johnson gave the game everything he had as a player, and it paid off when he started 45 games as a Tech safety from 2014-18. The NFL, however, tends to have little use for 5-foot-10, 185-pound guys unless they have some elite trait. Great effort goes only so far.
"Ultimately, I knew the game had to end at some point," Johnson said recently. "I've always been an undersized guy, so I knew I was already behind the 8-ball coming into it. That's no excuse to the outcome of everything, but I was OK with it because I'm still around the game."
Undrafted in 2019, Johnson received a minicamp invitation from the Arizona Cardinals, but was back in Lubbock not long after plotting his next course.
More: Who are Texas Tech football's most improved players? Zach Kittley, Tim DeRuyter weigh in
More: How Caleb Douglas, Josh Kelly connected with Texas Tech football
Jah'Shawn Johnson has played and coached for Ennis and Texas Tech
Johnson coached safeties for his hometown Ennis High School during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, and he's been on Joey McGuire's staff since 2022. Graduate assistants are limited to three-year terms, so this coming season will be Johnson's last on the Tech staff, at least in his current role.
Still, at age 27, he's already coached for both his alma maters.
"I tell everybody I'm pretty lucky," he said. "Everyone doesn't get to do it. I've been fortunate enough to be around some great people, I think leaving a great mark around the people that I've been with, so that kind of helped get me into some of these roles that I've been in so far."
Johnson said Tech secondary coach Marcel Yates gives him and defensive quality control staffer Ryan Conry a lot of responsibility. Yates coaches his young understudies. They split up running individual drills and, during spring practice, even get their chance to lead a meeting room and offer players more individual instruction.
"That's been really good to be able to get some experience running my own meeting room," Johnson said. "Put together (video) cutups for the guys weekly. I do receiver breakdowns weekly. I do some reports weekly for the games as well, so I'm pretty involved with a lot of the stuff. That's only to kind of teach me in the right direction, so it's been really good learning under him.
"Some of the man (coverage) stuff that he teaches is really good, that I didn't know in the past as far as eye placement and some of the (footwork) stuff, so he's a really good coach and I'm blessed that I get to learn from him."
As a player, Johnson was known for overcoming the odds and giving max effort. He came into the program weighing about 170 pounds, but was in the mix immediately. He played as a true freshman, received a medical hardship waiver preserving the eligibility after his injury-shortened first season, then turned into a full-time starter for four years.
Jah'Shawn Johnson, energetic player, appears to be a style fit for energetic coach
His reputation as a player seems to mesh with what Joey McGuire asks.
"Coach McGuire demands a lot of energy from the young coaches," Johnson said. "I've always played with emotion and passion for the game, so I just try to carry that same mentality over to the coaching side. Obviously, I'm on the sideline on Saturday, so I'm able to still celebrate with those guys, jump around with those guys and kind of have a good time with them. And I'm also very demanding on the sideline as well when something's not going right."
Patrolling the middle of the field in a pass-happy Big 12, Johnson shouldered plenty of responsibility. Being part of the coaching staff comes with a new set of demands. As a player, at least, the work day can usually end when practice ends.
For coaches at that point, hours of work remain.
"During the season," Johnson said, "it can be up until 10, 11 (p.m.), maybe midnight, depending on how much game planning we've done during the day and what we keep seeing on film that we have to get ready for.
"But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm still involved with the game, I'm learning from a lot of great guys and it's ultimately what I want to do for the rest of my life until it's time to retire."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football's Jah'Shawn Johnson pivots from player to coach
