Marquis Johnson's Battle with Emotions, Transition and Loss

The sophomore receiver for the Missouri Tigers has overcame personal struggles with the guidance of coaches and family.

Sep 7, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers wide receiver Marquis Johnsons looks off the sideline during a game against the Buffalo Bulls at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. / Matt Guzman/MissouriOnSI

Marquis Johnson needed to hear the truth. 

The truth about his struggling academics and his behavior on and off the football field.

But, just as important for the future Missouri Tigers wide receiver at the time, the truth that he was valued. Loved. Supported.

Henry Coleman, Marquis’ wide receiver and track coach at Dickinson High School, knew this. He recognized the potential his young pupil had and the mental roadblocks preventing him from reaching it.

“What I tried to do is lock into his dreams,” Coleman said, “get him to see what it was that he wanted to do, what the vision was for both he and his mother.”

Over the summer ahead of Marquis’ junior year of high school, Coleman sat down with Marquis and Marquis’ mother, Denise Bell.

There was no mincing of words. Coleman told Marquis the cold facts of where he needed to improve academically and behaviorally in order to reach his athletic goals. 

“A lot of times, kids, we think big, but the steps to get there, we don't necessarily know,” Coleman said. “That's what I did.”

During his sophomore year at Dickinson, Marquis had trouble paying attention in class, impacting his grades and threatening his athletic eligibility. On the football field, he didn’t want to listen to coaching. 

He was a rollercoaster of emotions, tied up in a young man without confidence.

“Marquis needed a lot of tough love and a lot of affirmation,” Coleman explained of the young, troubled Marquis. “He had those dreams, but I don't think he knew within himself if he could really get there.”

Sep 7, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers wide receiver Marquis Johnsons looks off the sideline during a game against the Buffalo Bulls at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. / Matt Guzman/MissouriOnSI

Marquis would often get far too caught up in his mistakes. Even a minor mess up in a practice drill was the end of the world for him.

Coleman and the rest of the Dickinson coaching staff had to find a way to curb the obstacles in front of Marquis. Unlike Marquis himself, Coleman listened. 

He understood that Marquis was not simply lazy or immature. There had to be more to the infectious, smiley, caring kid who had so much going on in his mind.

“Marquis needed to know that he was valuable,” Coleman said. “He was a great kid. Despite any mistake that he made, that wasn't the end.”

The issues Coleman was working to crack the code on were ones Marquis experienced in some capacity since he was 6 years old, when he was diagnosed with both attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Though Marquis and his coaches had to search for how to control these behaviors, there was no mystery on where they stemmed from. 

Emotional dysregulation is a recognized trait of ADHD. Additionally, poor academic performance is a common result of the attention difficulties experienced by those with the disorder.

The key for Marquis, with the support of the staff at Dickinson, was finding how to spin the impact his disorders had into ways that would give him an advantage.

“(Marquis needed) to use that to his benefit instead of to his detriment,” Dickinson head football coach John Snelson said of Marquis’ emotional challenges. “He was either really high or he was really low based on his performance.”

It’s been done before, including by Michael Jordan, who was also diagnosed with ADHD as a child. His tendency to relentlessly ruminate over his failures is a part of what turned him into one of the most accomplished athletes in history. 

It would take patience, sympathy and attention from Marquis’ coaches and teammates to help him get to the point of stability. But Coleman wasn’t going to give up. Through the unbreakable stone front Marquis put up, his coach saw a gem shining through. 

“When you sit down and you talk with him, you see he was just a big kid trying to figure things out. You saw that good side of him,” Coleman said. “As a parent, that's what we normally see for our kids. We always see the good side of our kids and we try to encourage that good side.”

Sep 21, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers wide receiver Marquis Johnson smiles walking off the field following a win over Vanderbilt at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. / Matt Guzman/MissouriOnSI

After the sit-down Coleman facilitated with Marquis, Bell noticed an almost instant, “360” change in her oldest son. Concerning grades turned into A’s and B’s. Suddenly, he was adamant about getting to school on time every day. 

The change in attitude came with transformative success athletically, too. Marquis worked his way past his hurdles, winning the Texas state championship for the 100m dash during his senior season with a 10.6-second time. He became a three-star receiver prospect as a leading star for Dickinson. 

“He continued to make mistakes,” Coleman admitted, “but what I saw was him listening. When I would talk to him in the past, he would kinda shut you out, he knew it already or he thought he knew it already. But, he began to listen.”

Marquis had to learn he wasn’t always right. To accept criticism. He had to change his attitude. His mother realized she would need to take a step back for him to accomplish this.

“Every situation Marquis would get in, I would have his back," Bell said. “I would support it whether he was right or wrong. It was hindering him. Every time something went wrong with a coach he’d come to me.”

Marquis’ father, Domonique Johnson Sr., was the one who encouraged Bell to stop ‘babying’ Marquis. Domonique, who spent five years in the NFL during Marquis’ childhood, never shied away from giving his son tough love.

“When he was very young, the only advice I gave was body language and attitude,” Domonique said. “I tried to give him some football pointers, but I just let him play.”

While Domonique was on the road, bouncing around with nine different NFL teams, he had to hear of Marquis’ peewee football games over phone calls. Until he retired from professional football in 2013 when Marquis was 9, he couldn’t be as present as he wanted to.

“(It was) very weird,” Domonique said of parenting while in the NFL, “because you wanna see your kids play, so you're having to listen to your family members and everybody else tell you what all has happened in the game.”

Through growth in talent and in attitude, Domonique’s advice for Marquis has remained the same.

“Not showing when you're upset, being a good teammate,” Domonique said of what he wants to see out of Marquis. “He still has his moments where I'm still fussing at him about some body language.”

Emotional swings are something Marquis will likely have to deal with for the entirety of his career. It's a part of who he is. But he has the same challenge of turning his mind into something that can benefit him, not the opposite. 

"There are great days of positive energy with Marquis, we just need to see those consistently,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said during fall camp. “We need to see consistent energy out of Marquis and his interactions within this building and outside of this building and that's something he really worked on."

Aug 17, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers wide receiver Marquis Johnson dances walking off the field of the team's annual fan night practice at Memorial Stadium at Faurot Field. / Amber Winkler/MissouriOnSI

If Marquis doesn’t hear the value of consistency enough from his head coach, he certainly hears it from his father. 

“My whole preach is consistency,” Domonique said. “Be consistent in practice. Be consistent in your attitude. Be consistent in everything that you do because that's the only thing that you really have a chance of controlling.”

Even when Marquis burst on to the scene as a freshman for Missouri, recording 13 receptions for 383 yards and three touchdowns in 2023, his dad was persistent in reminding him the consistent approach he needed to take to practice and his mindset.

“It's about being patient and waiting on that opportunity,” Domonique said. “Part of that has been learning. Learn what you can learn from Theo (Wease Jr.). Learn what you can from Luther (Burden) Because, you're not a finished product.”

Missouri wide receiver Daniel Blood, middle, dances with Marquis Johnson, left, and Luther Burden, right, during a college football game against South Carolina at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 21, 2023, in Columbia, Mo. / Abigail Landwehr/Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK

As Marquis has tried to be a sponge to information from experienced players in front of him, his leaders have taken the same liking to see him. Just as Coleman did at Dickinson, the veterans want to help Marquis unleash the potential they see.

“I stay in Marquis’ ear,” Wease said, “because I see how great he can be in the future and now, honestly,” Wease said. “He’s grown a lot. He’s matured.”

Marquis has had to grow a lot on and off the field since arriving to Missouri in the summer of 2022. The transition to college was not an easy one for him. The emotions hit him as he prepared to say goodbye to his mother as she dropped him off.

“You could tell it was affecting him when we dropped him off,” Bell said. “He was sad, down, not talking much. When I got ready to leave, he started crying. And I tried to be strong. I didn't cry in front of him.”

Just like Bell had done when she stopped blindly taking Marquis' side in each conflict years ago, she knew she had to set the example for Marquis.

Just a few days after moving into college, Marquis was calling Bell, telling her how badly he wanted to get on a flight and go home. Despite it, she stood strong, knowing what was best for her son.

“It got to the point to where I had to tell him, ‘If you leave school, you can't come back here,’” Bell said. “I didn't want to tell him that, but I knew that was the way to get him there.”

The two had spent the first 19 years of Marquis’ life relying on each other, having each other in low moments and celebrating each other's success.

The pair talk nearly every day. One phone call this summer began with a flood of tears from Marquis’ end.

Terrance Howard, a close friend from childhood, had died in tragic fashion. Howard, just 19 years old at the time of his death, was involved in a minor crash on July 22, 2024. When he exited his vehicle to check on others involved, he was hit by oncoming traffic.

When Marquis was 5 and 6, he wanted to be friends with everybody. His smile and energy were magnetic. 

Howard was one of the many drawn by Marquis’ infectious mood when the two were teammates with the peewee Hitchcock Red Raiders. After being friends throughout youth, the two went on opposite paths in high school,

Marquis found success playing wide receiver for Dickinson while Howard played defensive back while wearing No. 4 for one of Dickinson’s rivals, Ridge Point. But the two stayed in contact.

Howard first walked on at Alabama for the 2023 season. He transferred to North Carolina Central University just 66 days before his life ended. 

Howard’s legacy is continued on the football field, however. Marquis made sure of it.

Before each game this season, Denise has reminded Marquis of the support Terrence would have for him.

“I always tell him to know that Terrence is with him,” Denise said. “‘Ball out and play knowing that he's watching.’

“That's what he would tell him to do.”

As Marquis walked out of the tunnel ahead of Missouri’s Week 3 game against Boston College, Johnson walked out of the tunnel side-by-side with his unofficial brothers while the memory of another swayed behind him. A towel with the message ‘Long Live T4 Forever Love,’ whipped in the wind.

Welcome to Faurot#MIZ 🐯🏈 pic.twitter.com/2UMxlR15r6

— Mizzou Football (@MizzouFootball) September 14, 2024

“It pushes him to go harder on the field,” Bell said. “He's doing it for him.”

This week, Marquis will take the field at Texas A&M, just over 100 miles from the South Houston area where he and Howard grew up. Three years ago, he might’ve not thought becoming a SEC receiver was possible. Saturday, he’ll return to his home state for what is now just another Saturday. 

Those who guided him to accomplish the dreams, including 20-plus family members, coaches and friends, will be watching from the stands. 

From above, Marquis knows, so will Howard.

When Marquis steps onto Kyle Field, he’ll be filled with memories of watching highlights of one of his favorite players, Johnny Manziel. Those highlights were the reason Marquis chose to wear Manziel’s No. 2 for peewee football, and it stuck. 

A young Marquis Johnson grabs at his mouthguard during a game with the HItchcock Red Raiders, the peewee team he played on throughout his youth with Terrence Howard. / Courtesy of Denise Bell.

So, donning the same number once again, he’ll look to put on just as good a show as Manziel in his heyday. A show that Coleman, especially, has seen aplenty.  

Assuming he gets the ticket he’s hoping for, he’ll join the mass of 100,000 fans in College Station. He’ll see Marquis as a deep-receiving threat, but he’ll remember the caring, struggling kid who just needed to hear that he was valued and supported.

To hear the truth.