Panthers noseguard staying away from ‘poison’ of selfishness

It’s not that key individuals are frowned upon in Colleyville Heritage’s football lineup, but the focus on such can be poison.

At noseguard, senior KeAndre Johnson knows thinking in terms of standout play on his own accord can be a dangerous precedent.

Johnson and the rest of his Panthers teammates have bought into the notion which has been imparted by first-year Heritage coach Joe Willis.

Johnson, when asked whether his play has improved since his days as a varsity sophomore, was not hesitant to say there was nothing special about his individual play.

“It’s nothing without my teammates,” Johnson said sincerely. “We can’t get into the ‘Me, My and I’ way of thinking. It’s poison.

“If one of us plays great, we all play great,” he said.

Johnson, in the middle of the Panthers’ 3-4 defense, said the others on the team have helped him progress he was a sophomore, making him get better as a player and as a leader.

In fact, Johnson said his leadership on the field is likely one of his strong suits.

Besides his leadership qualities and being the anchor of the defense according to Willis, Johnson said he’s “a brawler” and will always bring it on each play.

“You earn respect on the field by how physical you are as a team,” Johnson said.

Physical play is required to carry out Johnson’s main objectives as a noseguard.

“I’m not doing my job if I’m not taking two gaps,” he said, referring to the A-gaps from one guard across the center to the gap toward the other-side guard.

“Whatever they ask me to do, I do,” he said.

At just over 5-7 – “5-9 on a good day,” he said – Johnson is a stout 280 pounds but has learned to do whatever it takes from an change-filled career at Heritage.

“I think how I’ve improved is from being under three different [coaching] regimes,” Johnson said. Having new coaching staffs would otherwise seem a detriment to many players.

But Johnson has been able to taken to heart the merits of all three head coaches.

“I’ve seen how all three do things differently and have realized you have to be versatile,” he said. “You just take it and make sure you’re there for your teammate and have their back and bring it every day, playing for ‘we,’ not ‘me, my or I.’”

That all plays in to Johnson’s personal goals, too.

“I want to be the best teammate every day, as a son, and student and bring the juice every day,” Johnson said.

That relentless attitude is coupled with technique to make an impact for the defense.

“My coaches preach technique when I’m over the guard or over the center,” Johnson said. “I put heavy hands on them and put him into the backfield to cut off angles and pulling blockers. It’s all about the blocking angles.”

And it doesn’t matter if Johnson is asked to stop the run or sack the quarterback. It all circles back to doing whatever task is immediately at hand.

“Last year, I would jump all over trying to get sacks, but this year, I just want to play technique,” he said.

What may seem odd about Johnson has nothing to do with his technique, though.

Johnson wears number 36, normally considered a running back or secondary jersey number.

“I had played running back in my sophomore year,” explained Johnson, “and my defensive coach asked what jersey number I wanted. I said ‘33,’ but it was too small and that [36] was the next number that was in extra-large.”

This story was originally published September 21, 2015 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Panthers noseguard staying away from ‘poison’ of selfishness."