‘That’s an Alma guy’
By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
Had he stayed in Pearland, Texas, a city about 15 minutes south of Houston that’s ballooned from 91,252 residents to 125,828 in a recent 10-year span, Eric Johnson isn't sure how much playing time he would have gotten for his high school football team, the Dawson Eagles.
But that all changed in the spring of 2020 when Johnson's dad uprooted the family from the sprawling Houston suburbs to Alma, Arkansas — a family-friendly town complete with burger stands, pizza joints, and Mexican restaurants.
And, to the delight of the soft-spoken two-way player who resembles many of the Airedale players who came before him, plenty of places to fish and hunt.
“We hunt and fish all the time, and we’re actually looking for some duck hunting spots, too,” beams best friend and fellow lineman Zach Millsap. “We also go to church Wednesday evening together at Mulberry First Assembly.”
The Johnsons, Gary and Lisa, moved to Crawford County in May of 2020 — just as the world was coping with the COVID-19 epidemic.
“We moved here a little over three years ago, kind of in the middle of the COVID pandemic,” Johnson said. “My dad got a promotion with the company that he works for (Southeastern Freight Lines), and I was never one for big-city living. Around here, as soon as I got here, people were coming up and saying hello and making friends. These guys are like brothers to me; I talk to them every day.”
It didn’t take Johnson long to track down head football coach Rusty Bush.
"Ever since I moved here, it's all been about the family — everybody in this town rallies around you," Johnson said. "Friday night ball is huge to this community; they thrive off of it.
"When we're doing good, everybody in town will go, 'Hey, you did great Friday night; I'm excited to see y'all play.' Around here, it's everything. It's a great experience ... I wish everybody could experience what it means to play for Alma."
“He’s not one to beat you down if you’re doing bad; he’s one to bring you up,” Millsap said. “And if he has a bad day, he’ll come up and say, ‘That’s on me, man.’ I think one thing he’s done is take a big vocal leadership on this team — at Van Buren and last Friday.”
Johnson immediately bonded with his coaches, too, most notably another Texan transplant named Eric Marsh.
A San Antonio native who played for Arkansas Tech back in the day, Marsh found a home in Alma and never left.
“I just tried to make him comfortable,” Marsh said. “It was the COVID year, and it was a brand-new school, and he was excited about football. Mom was kind of getting re-established with her job, so I ended up taking him home a few times. That’s what I like about my job, especially for those ninth-graders. Those rides home can be valuable resources — you can reach a bunch of those kids by just saying, ‘Hey, I want you here.’
“Early on, that was our relationship.”
Johnson, who backs up Richard Taylor at left guard and anchors the defensive line at nose guard, is fourth in tackles (8) behind Trey Bowen, Byron Standridge, and Jackson Mitchell.
And to think, Johnson wasn’t on defensive coordinator Zach Jones’ radar back in the spring. Not on defense, anyway.
“What we talked about in the summer, that guy wasn’t even on our radar on the defensive line — we thought he was our left guard on the offensive line,” Jones said. “But he’s stepped it up at practice. He’s the most consistent guy at practice, and on defense, you need guys to go hard every play.
“That guy will bust his tail, and he’s making plays because of it.”
Johnson said he didn’t play much football when he was younger. But since middle school, Johnson has found his niche, even if it usually means lining up across from players sometimes bigger and stronger.
"For some reason, I kind of got into it (football) when I got to middle school,” he said. “I've always been told, 'You're undersized and you're small for the position you play.'
"But I kind of just use that as a way to fuel the fire.”
Johnson uses his smaller frame (he’s listed at 5-foot-10 and 206 pounds) to his advantage — both in the trenches and in the heads of his opponents.
“I may be small, but I'm going to give you everything I've got,” Johnson said. "I translate that to everyday life. When someone tells me no and that you may not be good at this or that, I'm going to give everything my all."
“He wasn’t one of those guys that was a sure-fire going to play; he had to work for every inch of playing time he had,” Marsh said. “He’s a guy that struggles to be on the field, but he’s a guy that’s never going to quit.
“He’s always going to be giving his best effort.”
Alma assistant coach Kirk Benson calls Johnson a program guy who stayed the course. Some kids tend to get antsy when they don’t get much sophomore playing time.
Eric Johnson stuck to his roots.
“That’s an Alma guy; a program guy,” Benson said. “Now he’s a senior who worked himself into a rotation. To run through that ‘A,’ to be a Dog, he’s the type of kid you’ve got to have at Alma.”
“I lean on coach Benson and coach Marsh the most; those are the two guys I’m with most of the time,” Johnson said. “I’ve known Coach Marsh since I first moved here. He took me under his wing when I first moved here. We have a really good connection — I can go to him for just about anything. Coach Benson, he knows how to get you prepared.”