Just A Minute: Congratulations to Jimmy Johns for Finally Walking, Class of 2023
When the graduating Class of 2023 walks this weekend at the University of Alabama, each person will have a story about perseverance and accomplishment. But none may be better than the one attached to 35-year-old Jimmy Johns.
Many of you will remember the former Crimson Tide football player, who 15 years ago was kicked off the team after landing in jail. He's one of 10 current or former football players, including NFL safety Ronnie Harrison, and 83 athletes set to receive degrees.
In 2016, I wrote the following for Bleacher Report, as part of a feature about what it was like to be in Nick Saban's doghouse. Sometimes as reporters we get assignments that we really don't want to do, and with this story not panning out the way the editors had hoped I made a point to turn it in another direction and end on a positive note. Thankfully, they didn't edit it out:
Jimmy Johns' second chance didn't come until after football. One of the players [Nick] Saban inherited at Alabama, he had won Mississippi's Mr. Football Award in 2004. A big, imposing running back no one wanted to try to tackle, he was hyped as having immense potential.
But off the field, Johns was a lost soul. He had battled depression. His dad had never been around, and his grandfather died in a car accident in 2006. The only other role models in his life were coaches, but Mike Shula and his staff were fired the same year Johns' life went into a tailspin.
Johns was arrested and charged with fives counts of distribution and one count of possession of cocaine in June 2008. He struck a plea deal but still went to prison for a year.
Johns has since turned his life around.
"He didn't give up on me," Johns said of Saban. "He knew who I was as a person and what was in my heart, and he just continued to give. It's a blessing."
This spring, Johns returned to the place where he used to seem destined for greatness — Bryant-Denny Stadium — and participated in Alabama's alumni flag football game prior to the A-Day game. While fans started to claim their seats for the real scrimmage, many did double takes as Johns was awarded the MVP trophy.
What really had Johns smiling, though, was his personal water boy: wide-eyed son Jimmy Jr.
"I'm doing great," he said. "I'm still in school, about to finish up my degree at the university. I've been online about two years now. I'm training athletes and working every day.
"It's unbelievable to be back, to have my family come with me, to have my son here to see the crowd, the people here and the athletes here. It's just an amazing feeling."
As for what Saban meant to him after everything he had been through, Johns only had a one-word answer: "Everything."
Congratulations to Johns and the Class of 2023, including our now former interns Hunter De Siver, Clay Miller and Claire Yates. Well done.
Robert Sutton/USA Today Network
