West Florence’s Johnson bet on himself, not a position
Nyke Johnson wanted to play varsity football as quickly as he could. Three-plus years later, the bet on his physical abilities instead of his habits paid off. Johnson, a West Florence senior corner back and a Virginia Tech verbal commitment,…
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Continue ReadingNyke Johnson wanted to play varsity football as quickly as he could.
Three-plus years later, the bet on his physical abilities instead of his habits paid off.
Johnson, a West Florence senior corner back and a Virginia Tech verbal commitment, is a couple months away from heading to Blacksburg with tons of highlights and a boatload of experience. It’s the payoff from his decision to switch to defense heading into high school.
“When I came to high school, running back was stacked,” said Johnson, the No. 11 player in the state for the class of 2021. “I probably would have been third string. I probably wouldn’t have played varsity my freshman or sophomore year. It was really about getting on the field and helping my team.”
Midway through the last of his four varsity seasons, Johnson’s skill set has helped the Knights right into the thick of the race for a playoff spot. West Florence dropped down a classification ahead of this season. But the reward was a move into the best region in all of Class 4A football – one that arguably has stiffer tests week-to-week than its previous spot.
“It gets me and my team better. Week after week, you play pretty good teams,” Johnson said. “We play Wilson, Hartsville, Myrtle Beach. Every week, you can’t take off. The week you take off, you get beat.”
The Knights’s only loss through Week 4 came at the hands of Class 4A unanimous No. 1 team Myrtle Beach, the defending state runner up. Around that defeat, West Florence took down Wilson, Hartsville and Conway, three playoff teams from a season ago.
Johnson had piled up 20 tackles and two tackles for loss. He didn’t have an interception yet, but that’s mostly because opposing teams go out of their way to not test him through the air. He’s a solid open-field tackler, as well, something else that led Virginia Tech to push so hard. The Hokies were Johnson’s first college offer, and he has stuck with them like they did him.
He’ll enroll in January.
First, though, he’s got a few more games with West Florence. And that means a few more chances to compile a few more defensive highlights.