Fresno State Athletics
KeeSean Johnson: Striving for More
11/29/2018 4:00:00 PM | Football
Fresno State senior wide receiver KeeSean Johnson continually strives for more as the program's all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards enters this Saturday's Mountain West championship game at Boise State.
Growing up in town just 170 miles north of his future home at Bulldog Stadium, the idea of playing football at the collegiate level wasn't much of a reality for Fresno State senior wide receiver KeeSean Johnson.
East Palo Alto, California, the place where Johnson grew up and began his football career has been been home to a profound amount of poverty and crime in the last 20 years. Johnson's mother made it a point to keep her two sons off the streets and out of trouble. She felt sports and extracurriculars were the best way to do that.
"School was big for me," said Monique, Johnson's mother. "My grandmother always told me that without an education you are nobody. You want to get an education because nobody can ever take that away from you. I love where I come from but the activities that I put them in were to keep them off the streets."
"Where I was from, if you weren't going to school you were doing things to get in trouble with the law," explained Johnson about his hometown. "That was something my mom didn't want us to go through so she made sure that we had outside activities to keep us out of trouble."
The Johnson brothers were always busy with their extracurricular activities but for KeeSean, football was something that he felt he could pursue from the very first time he put his pads on.
"I watched my brother play football and then I really got into it," Johnson said. "After watching him play, it was something that I really wanted to do. Once I got the chance to play, I would say I was one of the better people on the team from a younger age."
As Johnson headed into high school, things began to shift in his football success. Suddenly he wasn't always one of the better players. The guys he was facing were bigger, stronger and faster than he was.
He stayed patient with the process through high school as he learned the game and grew physically. At the end of his four years, Johnson had become a two-way standout at Palo Alto High School.
"When I got to high school, I played against a bunch of guys that were a lot of bigger than I was," Johnson said. "Freshman year of high school, I was 5-foot-3 and then I went into my senior year 6-foot-1. Senior year was when the recruiting process came along and I started having success with my opportunity to play at the next level."
The East Palo Alto native came to Fresno in 2014 and took advantage of a redshirt season in his first year.
"My redshirt year was a little different than a typical redshirt year because I traveled to all the games. I never knew if I was going to play or not as a freshman. If someone got hurt, I had to be ready at all times. I didn't get as much of the lifting side of the redshirt year and I wish that I had that, but at the same time I learned a lot about the game and being on the field."
"We knew that there would be a huge void in the receiver room," added senior wide receiver Jamire Jordan about the redshirt year he shared with Johnson. "We said that the next year was ours to take so we went out there and worked to get those spots. It was a lot of fun being the young guys on the block, we had a great time."
The receiver duo did what they set out to do and earned starting positions as redshirt freshmen.
Johnson appeared in all 12 of Fresno State's games in 2015 as a redshirt freshman. He earned 10 starts on the season and ranked second on the team with 37 receptions. With hard work on and off the field, Johnson continued to make a name for himself in a Bulldog uniform in the years to come.
"We were with each other every day, focused on football," Jordan said. "We were roommates and while everybody else was out doing other things, we would be looking at football stuff or throwing each other the ball in our living room."
As an All-Mountain West honorable mention selection in 2016, Johnson led the Bulldogs in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. He started all 12 games for Fresno State as a sophomore.
With the change in coaching staff and a new quarterback coming in during the fall camp of the 2017 season, Johnson made sure that the changes to the program would not knock him of his vision of success.
Johnson would start all 14 games and lead the Bulldogs in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns for the second consecutive season. Johnson was an All-Mountain West second team selection in 2017.
"He is a really motivated person," said Fresno State offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer. "He has high expectations and he puts in the work to make sure that he reaches those goals he has set for himself. He is Mr. Consistent, not just in his play on the field but also in his personality. You know what you're going to get from him every single day you walk on the practice field, he is not too high and not too low."
After the Bulldogs came up short in the 2017 Mountain West Championship game, Johnson has played the 2018 season with a chip on his shoulder but has not let that stop him, it has just added more fuel to the fire that has already been blazing.
"The confidence he plays with has always been high but I think there is an elite mindset to what he wants his performance to be," added DeBoer. "I think that is what it really comes down to. I think he had the desire to be really good an now he is at that point where he wants to be great."
Johnson currently leads the nation in consecutive games with at least one reception. His nation-leading and program-leading streak of 48 games dates back to 2015 as he surpassed the previous program leader Henry Ellard who set the record with 34 receptions from 1979-82.
With his eight reception in the Bulldogs' win over Hawai'i on Oct. 27, 2018, Johnson became Fresno State football's all-time receptions leader, passing fellow East Palo Alto native, former Bulldog and current Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams, who set the previous record in 2013.
"It has been a process with the good and bad seasons," commented Johnson on his success. "It is with your own mindset in what you want to do and what kind of level you want to be at. Becoming the all-time receptions leader in Fresno State is something you always talk about doing when you first get here. My family friend Davante Adams was the holder of the record before me and he always encouraged me to go and beat him. It was something that I put my mind to and I knew that it was something I could achieve."
Already owning the program's career receptions record, Johnson became the program's all-time receiving yards leader last Saturday at home against San Jose State on Senior Night passing Charlie Jones' record of 3,344 yards he set in 1995.
As Johnson's Fresno State career comes to a close, he has not take his foot off of the gas pedal with hopes to only stop once he gets where he wants to be. After passing Adam's records at Fresno State, Johnson's goal is to reach that same success at the next level.
"He is where I want to be," said Johnson on Davante Adams. "It is a good feeling to know that somewhere in the world, people are comparing me to him, but I know that I am not done and there is still a lot of work to get done in order to be where he is at."
With the vision of a 2018 Mountain West championship title closing in, Johnson has begun to think about life outside of Fresno State football.
"The first thing I want to try and do is play football for a little bit to get my life started," Johnson said.
DeBoer sees Johnson as a person who will make the most of any opportunities he receives at the next level.
"I think he is certainly going to be a guy that gets opportunities and I am pretty confident that he is making the most out of those opportunities," added DeBoer on Johnson's potential. "He is never taking anything for granted. He is going to work hard and he is a guy who can do a lot of different things. He is the kind of football player that a lot of guys want on their football team."
With football in the big picture, another side of the Johnson has given him the possibility of a different route in life.
"If football doesn't work out, I want to be a firefighter or a probation officer for juveniles," explained Johnson, who graduated with a criminology-law enforcement degree last spring.
The ultimate goal for Johnson is to keep kids out of trouble and make sure they are creating positive futures for themselves. Johnson stresses that the most important part of doing that is an education. Much like his mother did for him in putting him in sports to keep him busy, he hopes to steer youth in the right direction with the same mindset as his mother's.
"I feel like I can help a lot of kids before they get into trouble," he said. "I am good with talking to kids, especially those who go through a hard time and those who haven't had everything in their life. Being raised in East Palo Alto, you see things and I feel like I might be able to relate more to kids like that and be able to help them and get themselves out of that trouble."
Johnson's journey to success looks to come full-circle as he aims to leave an impact on Fresno State, then do what he can to help others reach their fullest potential.
"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" – The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160
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Follow us on:
Twitter:Â @FresnoStateFB
Instagram:Â Fresno_State_Football
Facebook:Â FresnoStateAthletics
East Palo Alto, California, the place where Johnson grew up and began his football career has been been home to a profound amount of poverty and crime in the last 20 years. Johnson's mother made it a point to keep her two sons off the streets and out of trouble. She felt sports and extracurriculars were the best way to do that.
"School was big for me," said Monique, Johnson's mother. "My grandmother always told me that without an education you are nobody. You want to get an education because nobody can ever take that away from you. I love where I come from but the activities that I put them in were to keep them off the streets."
"Where I was from, if you weren't going to school you were doing things to get in trouble with the law," explained Johnson about his hometown. "That was something my mom didn't want us to go through so she made sure that we had outside activities to keep us out of trouble."
The Johnson brothers were always busy with their extracurricular activities but for KeeSean, football was something that he felt he could pursue from the very first time he put his pads on.
"I watched my brother play football and then I really got into it," Johnson said. "After watching him play, it was something that I really wanted to do. Once I got the chance to play, I would say I was one of the better people on the team from a younger age."
As Johnson headed into high school, things began to shift in his football success. Suddenly he wasn't always one of the better players. The guys he was facing were bigger, stronger and faster than he was.
He stayed patient with the process through high school as he learned the game and grew physically. At the end of his four years, Johnson had become a two-way standout at Palo Alto High School.
"When I got to high school, I played against a bunch of guys that were a lot of bigger than I was," Johnson said. "Freshman year of high school, I was 5-foot-3 and then I went into my senior year 6-foot-1. Senior year was when the recruiting process came along and I started having success with my opportunity to play at the next level."
The East Palo Alto native came to Fresno in 2014 and took advantage of a redshirt season in his first year.
"My redshirt year was a little different than a typical redshirt year because I traveled to all the games. I never knew if I was going to play or not as a freshman. If someone got hurt, I had to be ready at all times. I didn't get as much of the lifting side of the redshirt year and I wish that I had that, but at the same time I learned a lot about the game and being on the field."
"We knew that there would be a huge void in the receiver room," added senior wide receiver Jamire Jordan about the redshirt year he shared with Johnson. "We said that the next year was ours to take so we went out there and worked to get those spots. It was a lot of fun being the young guys on the block, we had a great time."
The receiver duo did what they set out to do and earned starting positions as redshirt freshmen.
Johnson appeared in all 12 of Fresno State's games in 2015 as a redshirt freshman. He earned 10 starts on the season and ranked second on the team with 37 receptions. With hard work on and off the field, Johnson continued to make a name for himself in a Bulldog uniform in the years to come.
"We were with each other every day, focused on football," Jordan said. "We were roommates and while everybody else was out doing other things, we would be looking at football stuff or throwing each other the ball in our living room."
As an All-Mountain West honorable mention selection in 2016, Johnson led the Bulldogs in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. He started all 12 games for Fresno State as a sophomore.
With the change in coaching staff and a new quarterback coming in during the fall camp of the 2017 season, Johnson made sure that the changes to the program would not knock him of his vision of success.
Johnson would start all 14 games and lead the Bulldogs in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns for the second consecutive season. Johnson was an All-Mountain West second team selection in 2017.
"He is a really motivated person," said Fresno State offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer. "He has high expectations and he puts in the work to make sure that he reaches those goals he has set for himself. He is Mr. Consistent, not just in his play on the field but also in his personality. You know what you're going to get from him every single day you walk on the practice field, he is not too high and not too low."
After the Bulldogs came up short in the 2017 Mountain West Championship game, Johnson has played the 2018 season with a chip on his shoulder but has not let that stop him, it has just added more fuel to the fire that has already been blazing.
"The confidence he plays with has always been high but I think there is an elite mindset to what he wants his performance to be," added DeBoer. "I think that is what it really comes down to. I think he had the desire to be really good an now he is at that point where he wants to be great."
Johnson currently leads the nation in consecutive games with at least one reception. His nation-leading and program-leading streak of 48 games dates back to 2015 as he surpassed the previous program leader Henry Ellard who set the record with 34 receptions from 1979-82.
With his eight reception in the Bulldogs' win over Hawai'i on Oct. 27, 2018, Johnson became Fresno State football's all-time receptions leader, passing fellow East Palo Alto native, former Bulldog and current Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams, who set the previous record in 2013.
"It has been a process with the good and bad seasons," commented Johnson on his success. "It is with your own mindset in what you want to do and what kind of level you want to be at. Becoming the all-time receptions leader in Fresno State is something you always talk about doing when you first get here. My family friend Davante Adams was the holder of the record before me and he always encouraged me to go and beat him. It was something that I put my mind to and I knew that it was something I could achieve."
Already owning the program's career receptions record, Johnson became the program's all-time receiving yards leader last Saturday at home against San Jose State on Senior Night passing Charlie Jones' record of 3,344 yards he set in 1995.
As Johnson's Fresno State career comes to a close, he has not take his foot off of the gas pedal with hopes to only stop once he gets where he wants to be. After passing Adam's records at Fresno State, Johnson's goal is to reach that same success at the next level.
"He is where I want to be," said Johnson on Davante Adams. "It is a good feeling to know that somewhere in the world, people are comparing me to him, but I know that I am not done and there is still a lot of work to get done in order to be where he is at."
With the vision of a 2018 Mountain West championship title closing in, Johnson has begun to think about life outside of Fresno State football.
"The first thing I want to try and do is play football for a little bit to get my life started," Johnson said.
DeBoer sees Johnson as a person who will make the most of any opportunities he receives at the next level.
"I think he is certainly going to be a guy that gets opportunities and I am pretty confident that he is making the most out of those opportunities," added DeBoer on Johnson's potential. "He is never taking anything for granted. He is going to work hard and he is a guy who can do a lot of different things. He is the kind of football player that a lot of guys want on their football team."
With football in the big picture, another side of the Johnson has given him the possibility of a different route in life.
"If football doesn't work out, I want to be a firefighter or a probation officer for juveniles," explained Johnson, who graduated with a criminology-law enforcement degree last spring.
The ultimate goal for Johnson is to keep kids out of trouble and make sure they are creating positive futures for themselves. Johnson stresses that the most important part of doing that is an education. Much like his mother did for him in putting him in sports to keep him busy, he hopes to steer youth in the right direction with the same mindset as his mother's.
"I feel like I can help a lot of kids before they get into trouble," he said. "I am good with talking to kids, especially those who go through a hard time and those who haven't had everything in their life. Being raised in East Palo Alto, you see things and I feel like I might be able to relate more to kids like that and be able to help them and get themselves out of that trouble."
Johnson's journey to success looks to come full-circle as he aims to leave an impact on Fresno State, then do what he can to help others reach their fullest potential.
"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" – The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160
Â
Follow us on:
Twitter:Â @FresnoStateFB
Instagram:Â Fresno_State_Football
Facebook:Â FresnoStateAthletics
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