While football fans around the Delta have known for a couple years now what a talented player Dillon Johnson is, he is now starting to make a name for himself on a much bigger level.
Johnson, who will enter his senior season at St. Joseph Catholic School next school year, was named the Most Valuable Player of the running backs recently at the Nike Opening Football Camp in Nashville. The event is designed for promising football prospects to learn how to be better athletes and players, and eventually go on to play at the highest level, in college and the NFL. Players like Johnson tested their skills in the 40-yard dash, the 20-yard shuttle, the vertical jump and the kneeling power ball toss.
Johnson’s score of 120.3 at this camp broke the old record that was held by current New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley.
“When they told me that, I was like ‘That is crazy!’” Johnson said. “I came back to do this because the last time I went I was not really happy with my score. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do better,” Johnson said.
Johnson, along with his teammate Trey Benson, are two of the most highly recruited athletes to come out of the area in ages.
Johnson sent out a tweet this week saying he has narrowed his recruitment to five schools — Arkansas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Missouri and Memphis.
“I chose to narrow it down because those are the schools that are showing me the most love right now, and each one of them seems like it could be a good fit for me,” Johnson. “If I was going to rank them, I would put Arkansas first, Mississippi State second and Missouri third.”
Johnson plans to decide sometime before December.
