They simply call him 'Money'. Daquan Johnson, who led Flomaton High School to its first state football championship a year ago, is headed to Duke University in Durham, N.C., to become a Blue Devil in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Money had verbally committed to Troy University months ago. The Duke offer was just too much to pass up.
He actually sent his signed letter to Duke at 7 a.m. Wednesday, two hours before the ceremonial signing at the lobby inside Flomaton High School.
When I first heard Duke had made him an offer I thought he'd be a fool to turn it down. My wife wanted to him to to got Troy so she go watch him play.
Johnson has opened new doors at Flomaton High School and I'm not just talking about his athletic ability. But he did open the door for Flomaton's first football state title and now he's opened the door for other students to learn that hard work in athletics is not enough; that hard work also needs to be applied in the classroom.
I had someone tell me a story last week about Money during last year's championship run that really sums up the character of the young man. As told to me, he showed up at the field house to get ready for practice; he wasn't himself. He sat on a stool with his head down and coaches became concerned. When the coaches asked some of his teammates what was wrong, they said Money was scared he had failed a biology test.
He didn't fail the test, he actually did well but not as good as he wanted, but that tells the story of Daquan Johnson. Football was important, but he knew the most important thing for his future didn't lie on the football field, it was in the classrooms inside Flomaton High School.
We're all guilty of putting so much emphasis on athletics that we sometimes forget that these are 'student-athletes'.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a story about FHS student Alex Glidewell who set an FHS record by scoring a 35 on the ACT test. My bet is that most people didn't have a clue who Alex was because he was playing in the band during halftime when the football team was in the lockerroom.
Unless you've lived in a cave for the past few years, everybody knew Money, but we knew him for what he could do on the football field and we didn't know that he was just as dedicated in the classroom.
When I talked to Money after the ceremonial signing, he put it into a perspective everybody should understand. He basically told me that football doesn't last forever and that it ends at some point. That point may be at the end of their high school career, college career or even a pro career, but it will come to an end.
He understands that. He knows that getting a college degree from Duke University will carry him for a lifetime, long after his football career comes to a close.
As FHS Principal Scott Hammond told me Wednesday morning - “It's an opportunity of a lifetime.”
Johnson is and will continue to be an inspiration to future student athletes, not only in Flomaton but across the area.
In my many years covering high school football players, I've seen some good ones. I've asked coaches about offers and there were many, but for many of those athletes the success on the football field was not backed up by success in the classroom.
Hopefully, young kids playing athletics today will look at Money for that inspiration. Hopefully they will realize that scoring touchdowns, hitting homeruns and draining threes won't be enough to take them to the next level. They also need to be scoring those touchdowns, hitting those homeruns and draining those threes in the classroom.
Duke signed Money because of his football abilities, but Duke wouldn't have given him a sniff if his classroom work wasn't exceptional.
He's been a role model during his years at Flomaton High School and hopefully he will continue to be a role model for other athletes. He's taught them that all the athletic talent in the world won't open the doors as wide as a good education.
Being a little selfish, like my wife, I was excited about Money heading to Troy so we could make that two hour drive to watch him play. But he made the right decision for himself and his future.
Now it's up to us to put enough pressure on our local cable television carriers to add the ACC network to our channels.
