Aaron ‘AD’ Johnson, from Perry County Central, is the Mingua Beef Jerky Protein-packed Performer of the Week @minguabeefjerky @bigassfans, @KyHighFootball, @PCCHSFootball, @kyhssportszone

’26 QB has made some definitive and drastic offseason progressions across the board

I used to tell kids playing for me that if they reported to summer camp and looked identical to how they appeared when they left out in the spring, they were asking me not to play them. I also told them I was very likely to grant them their wish. Football is a game which requires a player to ever strive to look anatomically different as he progresses through his career. Aaron “AD” Johnson from Perry County Central has done just that. The 6’3,” 170-pounder looks way different than when we featured him in January of 2025. The difference is “startling” and so will be the results.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”

Perry County Central is “coming on…”

Mingua Beef Jerky uses Enviro-Pac CHU-2000 equipment to cook its meat to USDA required levels for both moist or dry operation. Mingua Beef Jerky wants you to become one of its many satisfied customers by sampling its quality hand sliced, all natural beef jerky. We know you’ll love it and come back for more, again and again.     

Ronnie Mingua began experimenting with making beef jerky back in the 1990s. He shared his efforts with neighbors and friends, soon realizing he had come up with something different and superior to all other beef jerkies on the market. From these humble beginnings, Mingua Beef Jerky got its start.  

Today, the Mingua Beef Jerky Company still prides itself on using its old-fashioned, all-natural recipes which offer outstanding products to customers across the nation. The recipes are a family tradition, passed down from generation to generation.     

Our recipes and our quality ingredients, hand-cut from solid pieces of beef, are never chopped or formed like other brands, making our products superior and one of a kind. That would make our products similar to this week’s Protein-packed Performer, Aaron “AD” Johnson, ’26 QB from Perry County Central High in Hazard, Kentucky. 

Our recipes and our quality ingredients, hand-cut from solid pieces of beef…

Mingua Beef Jerky

Hazard, KY: Aaron “AD” David Johnson is from a football family. Multiple members of his family have played collegiately from Marshall’s “Thundering Herd” to the Colonels of EKU.

Cassi Maggard Photography

Johnson is a prospect who is developing a college level frame. Though his frame and physical development may be later to the party than folks may have preferred, it is still better late than never, as folks say.

It is appearing, more and more, this offseason that AD Johnson is arriving. His height is up to 6’3,” and he has his weight over 170-pounds. Johnson has worked with an offseason speed trainer and it is paying considerable dividends.

Johnson has his 40-time down to the high 4.6s to right at 4.7-seconds flat. That is plenty fast to cause problems for opposing defenses letting Johnson slip outside the defensive edge parameters.

Johnson passed for close to a thousand yards and ran for a couple hundred more in ’24 as a junior

KHSAA Statistical Website

Johnson transferred over to Perry County Central (4A) from Breathitt County (2A) after his sophomore season. Last season, was Johnson’s first under center for the Commodores.

Scott Warren, Photographer
Bell County’s Jaxson Pratt chased Perry

Central quarterback Aaron Johnson this past
season. Bell won 28-12.

Johnson threw for close to a thousand yards and gained another couple of hundred yards rushing the football. Johnson was able to lead his team into the end zone both by the forward pass and pounding the ground. Johnson’s added, offseason heft, speed, and explosion promises to add weaponry to his athletic, football skill set.

We had Johnson measuring around 6’2″ to 6’2.5″ a year ago. We are told Johnson is a full 6’3″ this coming season. Having had an agent in the area spy him out during an offseason, speed training session, I hear his being 6’3,” and every bit of it, is no longer open for debate.

Johnson has the privilege of getting to play for Mark Dixon at Perry. Coach Dixon has had a long, distinguished, and productive career on a KHSAA sideline. Dixon is a straight shooter who does right by his talent and does an excellent job of bring along that talent.

In case we forget, Johnson also carries a 4.0-GPA at one of Kentucky’s more academically challenging curricula. College football programs will find this guy is an easy take.

Dixon has certainly brought along AD Johnson and turned him into a legitimate and lethal weapon for his offensive backfield. Dixon has done equally well developing AD Johnson’s little brother “Mr. B (Bryson Johnson, All-State LBer).”

One thing is for certain after this offseason training the Johnsons have undertaken this year, If you haven’t seen the Johnsons in a second be ready to be shocked. Both of the Johnson boys are “growing up” and developing into fine, young men.

Join us next week as we return to honor another weekly prize winner. Until then, pop some Mingua Beef Jerky in your mouth and savor the quality and flavor which sets it apart from the competition. Remember, our product is superior and one of a kind; just like Perry County Central High School’s Aaron “AD” Johnson.

This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!

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About Fletcher Long 1811 Articles
Two-time winner of Kentucky Press Association awards for excellence in writing and reporting news stories while Managing Editor of the Jackson (KY) Times-Voice

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