San Lorenzo Valley High alumnus Nick Johnson has the arduous task of getting noticed by the National Football League scouts at the league’s Super Regional Combine in Detroit.
Johnson is attending the event March 30 and 31 — which will be attended by all 32 NFL teams — after he ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at the local regional combine at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa last month.
“This next combine is make or break for me with the NFL scouts,” Johnson said. “I am really excited but it’s been a lot of work. I have been training every day with my uncle (former Kansas City Chief safety Sherman Cocroft) trying to prepare for this thing.”
A 2007 SLV graduate, Johnson played at Cabrillo College as a wide receiver for the Seahawks before transferring to Henderson State, where he played two seasons as a Reddie.
“Nick has a variety of athletic skills,” said Reddies coach Scott Maxfield during a phone interview Tuesday. “He is very fast, but a little light for the NFL. I hope he makes it, but I see him as a guy with an uphill battle in front of him to impress the NFL scouts enough to get drafted. He could very well make it as a free agent.”
John Oluyole, Johnson’s agent from Sports Management World Wide, said Johnson’s appearance would help get him exposure and could provide a new level of interest if the speedy receiver showed well.
“Right now, not that many teams know him,” he said. “After Nick goes to that, I’m almost certain he’s going to get some interest.”
Oluyole predicted that Johnson could be used as a slot receiver and return man in the mold of wide-outs such as Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers or Santana Moss from the Washington Redskins.
“He has the quickness, he has the movement and he has the guts,” Oluyole said. “All you need is one team to really take a liking to you.”
Along with his performance on the football field, Johnson busied himself as the leader of Henderson State’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes club and was a keynote speaker at a number of venues, including the International Life Week series last month at National University of Ireland in Galway, Ireland.
“It has been an exciting time for me,” Johnson said in a phone interview. “I got to speak at lots of high schools in the south with the FCA; then my cousin asked me to come speak at the Life Week series, and that was something else. The whole trip was a very cool experience for me.”
Johnson supported the American Cancer Society Relay For Life and often visited sick children at the local hospitals around Henderson State.
During the 2012 season, Johnson caught 35 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns for the Reddies, helping the team to a second-place finish in the NCAA Division II Great American Conference. He was a finalist for the Allstate Good Works team promoted by the American Football Coaches Association.
“Nick has so many intangible attributes to his character,” Maxfield said. “It is hard to sum him up as anything but a great guy.”
Oluyole said that if he is not drafted or picked up by an NFL team, Johnson has a great chance at playing for a Canadian Football League team.
“I don’t care where I play really,” Johnson said. “I just hope my football career gets a chance to continue.”
