Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 224-pound defensive end, came out to friends and family five years ago and he knows full well that he will draw a national spotlight.
“I do feel like when I say that [I am openly gay], it can put a target on my back,” Johnson, 17, told the Arizona Daily Star’s Zack Rosenblatt, “but whatever.”
Johnson told Vincent Amey, Arizona’s defensive line coach, that he was gay when he was being recruited.
“When I found out, I really couldn’t sleep,” Amey told the Daily Star. “And it wasn’t like I was uncomfortable with it. I was just like, all right, it’s different, it’s new. . . . I said, ‘Look, you are who you are, I am who I am, and I’m going to coach you the same way. I’m going to treat you the same way. I’m going to get on you the same way as everybody else. There’s no difference. You do what you do.’
“I said, ‘When the players find out, especially my room, I’m going to tell [those] dudes: Look, you gotta have his back.’ ”
Three years ago, Michael Sam became the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL. But Sam, who was cut by the Rams during training camp and then cut by the Dallas Cowboys from their practice squad midseason, retired in 2015 after playing briefly in Canada. Sam publicly announced that he was gay in February 2014 after his final college game but had told his teammates in a preseason team meeting.
“Coaches just wanted to know a little about ourselves, our majors, where we’re from, and something that no one knows about you,” Sam said, “and I used that opportunity just to tell them that I was gay. And their reaction was like, ‘Michael Sam finally told us.’ ”
A senior at Arizona’s Tempe High School, Johnson is not, an official told The Post, being made available for interviews. Although he has just become a national story, “it is not new to us and it really is a non-issue for our student body,” Jill Hanks, the school district’s executive director for community relations, wrote in an email. “Tempe High School and Tempe Union High School District believe in acceptance and inclusion of all students and My-King has always had the support of the school and district community.”
Johnson was 12 when he told some friends and family members. But he saved the conversation with his mother for last. He says he barely remembers the talk itself, only that it was difficult. Nadette Lewis, his mom, calls him an “old soul,” and, with a 3.8 GPA, he also is a well-rounded one. He played tuba in the high school band for two years and performed during halftime while wearing his football jersey and cleats. He even considered quitting football for music at one point. Whatever the future brings, he knows who he is.
“I’m a very honest person,” said Johnson, who had verbally committed to UCLA but ended up signing with the Wildcats. “I just don’t see how I could be living an honest, truthful life and have that in the background.”
He makes it sound simple, but his mother knows better. The stakes are high in major college football and fans can be unforgiving.
“It’s hard enough being a black kid in America,” Lewis said. “Then I worry about him being a football jock, then I worry about him being gay because it’s still not so accepted. Everybody perceives him as a dumb jock because he is a football star, which he’s not, but then you’re gay and a football player? That’s not heard of yet, and maybe it’s still not accepted in the football world.”
Maybe not. But Johnson is just ready to play football.