We used to call him Big Bear. This stemmed back to when he played for Team Kentucky-8th Future Stars. He was a youngster, back then, whose potential was undeniable. He also was a “bear” of a tackle who “mauled” his targets.
He didn’t like the nickname very much and told us. We don’t call him that anymore because when big, tough guys tell us we are doing something they don’t like, we are accustomed to allowing that to formulate our future conduct. Besides that, he’s our friend, and we have always believed a man should be called whatever he chooses.
He hasn’t given us a nickname to use. So we saw some film of him at Marshall’s prospect camp and thought he looked like a bull to us. Albeit his was more of the very athletic, graceful, powerful kind of bull and not one which might lumber through a china shop.
We’ll assure you of this fact, “The Bull” had one tremendous middle school career. Johns played in the KYMSFA, East vs. West, Kentucky All-State game, was a two time Kentucky Future Star, and won a KYMSFA State Football Championship.
Johns got himself ready to play, and play immediately, for Lexington Christian Academy upon his matriculation to high school. LCA had suffered some losses to graduation and were bound to have to play some younger players. The 6-2, 255-pound RT, played very well in 2018.
At the end of his freshman season, we selected Anthony to the KPGFootball Freshman All-State team. Let us assure you his was a selection, which frankly, wasn’t even close.
There was just no doubt, at all, Johns was among the top-5 freshman OL in Kentucky. Johns may have been number one if assessing the ability to play the game, irrespective of frame, is undertaken.
Ours was not the only honor the young man would net. Johns was also selected to both the O&D (Offense and Defense) and the NPFA (National Pro Football Academy) All-American Football teams. Going into his sophomore year, Johns has been selected (unofficially), on Bluegrass Rivals, as the 25th best offensive lineman, regardless of graduating class with remaining high school eligibility, in all of the commonwealth, preseason.
Anthony has been somewhat of a “hot commodity” out on the camp/combine circuit, having worked out for both Marshall’s Thundering Herd and the Kentucky Wildcats, among others. Johns has shown he can defend the edge or slide inside and play along one of the three interior OL slots.
We have gotten to watch quite a bit of video on Johns this offseason. This prospect has incredible core strength and plays with his hips sunk in the exact position a coach would want to see.
An accomplished strength and conditioning proponent, we reported four months ago that Johns was showing marked improvement in all areas. Johns, then, was bench pressing 240-pounds, squatting 375, and pulling (deadlifting) 480-pounds while still (at that time) completing his freshman year in high school.
If you consider some of Anthony’s combine times, like what he did at the the Best of the Midwest, it is easy to see Johns is well ahead of the pack as an up-front athlete with plenty of explosion and quick-twitch muscle fibers. At the BOTM, Johns ran the 40-yard sprint in 5.2 seconds, registered a 4.7 second, pro-agility shuttle, broad-jumped 101 inches (8’5″), and recorded a 30-inch vertical.
That is crazy athletic for a kid his age and where he is aligned. That is freakishly explosive for a kid his age and deployed where he is generally slotted.
As we enter 2019, and with the vast realignment, it is hard to conceive of any teams in LCA’s classification which could feel any better about where it is as a football program, at the least roster-wise. LCA may have been the youngest team in its classification a year ago, with 8-9 freshmen pressed into action, and they finished 9-4, one-yard short of the Semi-finals.
We would say having to rely principally on sophomores would be a dicey situation for a lot of programs. Hard to say that here with the sophomores LCA has on hand. We’ll tell you this, if these sophomores stay together, they will be Hell-fire in both 2020 and 2021.
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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