Ernest Johnson left a fishing boat and worked as a personal trainer to shine in the NFL.
Apparently not a day went by without D’Ernest Johnson bothering Tim Ruskell, who had just taken over as the Orlando Apollos manager of the new Alliance of American Football League.
“I know he’s tired of answering my calls,” Johnson said. “They all had their running backs already. But I kept calling. Every day, ‘Has something changed? Do you need a running back?’ The same thing”.
Johnson had just spent the previous weeks in 2018 making a living from mahi-mahi fishing off the coast of Key West, Florida, both selling the fish and taking tourists on fishing trips.
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Despite a brilliant college career in South Florida, Johnson was not drafted into the NFL, in part due to a very slow 4.81 seconds on the 40-yard shot.
Johnson, however, wasn’t ready to give up football, even when it looked like the sport had given up on him. Unable to reach his own agent, Johnson began posting to the social media profiles of AAF teams, including the Apollos.
Then, thanks to a college friend who had been invited to play for the Apollos, Johnson got the phone number for Ruskell, who had served as general manager of the Seattle Seahawks between 2005 and 2009, and who was already bombarded with calls and messages from players looking for one last chance. But, as Ruskell puts it, Johnson’s persistence in asking for an opportunity “was on another level.”
“That insistence got him to train for sure,” Ruskell recalls. “I said, ‘This guy really wants this – we have to do something.'”
This persistence took Johnson until late Thursday, October 21.
With the main backers of the Cleveland browns, Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, absent for injuries, Johnson ran 146 yards in his first career NFL start, leading the Browns to a 17-14 victory over the Denver Broncos in Cleveland.
Johnson scored a touchdown on the opening disc. Then, at the end of the final quarter, he finished the Broncos with a decisive play, overcoming a tackle and taking the first down on a third long down.
“D’Ernest Johnson is a warrior and a great teammate to me,” said coach Kevin Stefanski, who handed the ball to Johnson as he was surrounded by his teammates in the locker room after the game. “What he’s struggled with in his career, then having spent a night like this and ending up like he did… I thought that was just amazing.”
To Johnson, the whole night still seemed surreal. Her childhood idol was LeBron James. During his post-match interview, Johnson was still unaware that James had tweeted about him. He was speechless. ” James ? LeBron James… ”he kept saying over and over. Now he plans to make a big impression of the tweet and frame it.
“That night I was in shock,” said Johnson, who couldn’t sleep until 5 a.m. because of the adrenaline rush. “Like, did all of this really happen?” “
Johnson’s surprise is understandable.
After leaving the fishing boat in August 2018, he moved to Gainesville, Fla., And got a job as a personal trainer so he could work out in the same gym outside. While Johnson and his girlfriend were texting AAF team profiles, his mother was sending emails to random people related to Canadian Football League teams.
When Johnson arrived at Apollos training camp in January, he was the fifth running back. But his courage, versatility and hands quickly caught the attention of head coach Steve Spurrier, the legendary former coach of the Florida Gators. During one of the first practices, Spurrier called Johnson.
He said, ‘What’s your name? “He didn’t know my name or anything,” Johnson said. “I told him and he said, ‘OK, I’ll call you Ernie – good job Ernie.'”
Johnson joined the Apollos as a third running back, but ended up becoming one of the best players in the league.
“He might not have run 40 yards, but his gust was as good as anyone,” Ruskell said. “And every time he got called out, whether it was in practice or any part of the game, he was doing something. He just stood out.”
The AAF would close eight weeks after the start of the season. But Johnson had enough material for his new agent, Aston Wilson, to have another look at the NFL and finally Cleveland, with whom he signed a free agent contract in 2019.
Johnson now has a motto he lives by, which he calls “slow preparation”. Nothing is easy and nothing happens quickly. The fishing boat. Connections to Ruskell. The last two seasons of being Chubb and Hunt’s reserve, being part of special teams and clinging to that awkward position.
Ahead of the Denver game, Johnson reflected on this story and even watched his mini-documentary. And he knew his slow preparation was going to end. The insistence was going to bear fruit.
“See how far we’ve come and know what it took,” Johnson said. “Slow preparation, you have to trust the process no matter what you are going through … … and believe in yourself.”
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