Indiana University Athletics
Glenn Johnson, Practically Perfect
10/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
October 3, 2002
Bloomington, Ind. - Here's what we know: Glenn Johnson has proven that he is a standout on the Indiana football team. He's made catches and brought the fans in Memorial Stadium to their feet. His agility and determination have allowed him to catch 22 passes for 406 yards this year. But that's all football and Glenn Johnson, well, he's more than just football.
Now, here's what you don't know: Glenn Johnson admits to understanding women much better than most of his male counterparts. How in the world could that be possible? 'G,' as his teammates continually refer to him, has lived with his older sister Dena since he was 13 years old.
"Dena and I are really, really close. We always have been close," says Johnson.
There is a certain respect when he talks of his sister, the woman to whom he gives credit for shaping him into the man he has become. Hundreds of miles from his home in Clewiston, Florida on the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee, he continues to be guided by his sister's advice.
"She has always told me to be my own man. She has kind of molded me into this, I don't want to say perfect guy...but perfect guy. I got both aspects of life growing up so I can understand women."
Ladies, you may be wondering where he's been all your life, but this is a football man.
Knowing that Glenn Johnson is committed to all things football, it's hard to believe that his number one hobby is pool. Yes, the billiards game - not anything related to swimming. He may have grown up on one of the largest lakes in the country, but Glenn has stuck to the land.
"I fished a lot. I hated it," he says, hoping that it will be enough answer to the question of what sort of water sports this avid sports-lover tried on the Okeechobee. "I jet-skied a couple times," he says.
Instead, he stuck to the football field and the hardwood of the basketball court.
"Now I'm defined by football, but when I first got here it was basketball. Everyone who knew me, knew I was a pretty good basketball player. Even now, it's still that way," says Johnson.
He has three brothers - Sellers, Adrian and Toddrick - and Sellers has watched Glenn play football for the first time this season.
"Sellers still thinks of me as playing basketball. He's just getting used to me playing football. He'd never seen me play football until this year."
Then he admits to trying to play golf. And how, one could wonder, did this football-catching, pool-shooting, bowling (yes, bowling) man decide to take up golf?
"If my career goes the way I want, I'll probably have to negotiate on the golf course," says Johnson. "I really want to play at the next level, in the NFL. That is my ultimate goal."
But Glenn, what if that doesn't happen?
He is rendered momentarily speechless. Looking up, it's not a blank stare that he wears, but fierce determination to reach his goal. He doesn't believe there is any other option. He has no contingency plan.
"My girlfriend and my sister keep asking me, 'If you don't go to the NFL, what are you going to do?' and I don't even think about that. I'm focused on just one thing, and that's to go to the NFL," says Johnson. "This is the only thing I don't think about from their perspective. If I'm not playing in the NFL, I'm going to keep doing whatever it takes to get there. Eventually, I'm going to get there."
This quiet, thoughtful and self-defined perfect guy has given his sister and brothers something to brag about for far more than just what he's done on the football field. He's great at basketball, pool, bowling and golf, too.
But Glenn Johnson is a football man and with every pass that he catches he gets one step closer to the only dream he owns.
