Union County's Jarren Johnson has to be in the conversation when talking about Mr. Football. I just hope those outside of Western Kentucky see what everyone in Western Kentucky knows, he's a heck of a football player! He is Union County's All-Time leading rusher passing former Parade All American Tim Joiner who held the record for 45 years. Jarren ran for 506 yards as a freshman, played the first half of the first game his sophomore season before tearing his ACL, he finished that game with 91 yards. After his freshman and sophomore seasons he had 597 career rushing yards. He currently sits 25 yards away from 5000! He ran for 2091 yards and 33 touchdowns as a junior and has 2287 yards and 39 touchdowns for far this season. He has also thrown for 1260 yards and 12 touchdowns in the last two years. It's my hope he truly gets the consideration he deserves.

From last week on our Mr. Football Watchlist:

Third Team All-Watchlist 
Jarren Johnson (Union County, ATH)
Like a runaway locomotive, Johnson is building a head of steam that's made him impossible to ignore, despite being tucked away in a western corner of the state.
A week after hanging 323 yards of offense on Glasgow, he dropped 235 more on Adair County. 
His 157 rushing yards eased him past 2,000 for the season. He's now reached that milestone two years in a row.
Johnson's legs justifiably get most of the pub, but he got an opportunity to show off his arm, uncorking a dart to the endzone on 4th and 22 for a touchdown. 
Throw in his second interception of the season for a well rounded game.
Season to date: 187 carries for 2,004 and 35 TDs | 482 passing yards and 5 TDs | 38 tackles | 2 INTs

 

5 minutes ago, TheFan721 said:

Union County's Jarren Johnson has to be in the conversation when talking about Mr. Football. I just hope those outside of Western Kentucky see what everyone in Western Kentucky knows, he's a heck of a football player! He is Union County's All-Time leading rusher passing former Parade All American Tim Joiner who held the record for 45 years. Jarren ran for 506 yards as a freshman, played the first half of the first game his sophomore season before tearing his ACL, he finished that game with 91 yards. After his freshman and sophomore seasons he had 597 career rushing yards. He currently sits 25 yards away from 5000! He ran for 2091 yards and 33 touchdowns as a junior and has 2287 yards and 39 touchdowns for far this season. He has also thrown for 1260 yards and 12 touchdowns in the last two years. It's my hope he truly gets the consideration he deserves.

Does he have any offers? Seems that's what moves the needle in these conversations, rather than being solely based off stats. 

6 minutes ago, Hungover_in_Andover said:

Does he have any offers? Seems that's what moves the needle in these conversations, rather than being solely based off stats. 

Doesn’t look like he has offers. He isn't listed on 247 sports. There are 40 players in KY listed. 

There's offers, there's stats and then there's heart! He gets overlooked because of his size, but he's got the heart of a lion! If we are all sitting around picking a football team I doubt there's very many that don't pick him as their first RB. 

34 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Doesn’t look like he has offers. He isn't listed on 247 sports. There are 40 players in KY listed. 

Likely an uphill climb without offers. Again, based on past winners, it seems that is a necessary part of a winning resume.

39 minutes ago, Hungover_in_Andover said:

Likely an uphill climb without offers. Again, based on past winners, it seems that is a necessary part of a winning resume.

Not necessarily.

Isaac Dixon (Belfry) wasn't heavily recruited nor was Daniel Thomas (Bell County). Both just were dominant High School players who put up eye popping stats  and carried their teams on their backs during their Senior campaign and had massive games when the rest of the State was watching. Both also checked the lifetime achievement box as well.

The biggest hurdle for Johnson is concentration of votes. I feel like Dixon and Thomas benefitted because there was a good number of votes coming from EKY and both guys were very well known, heavily respected, and coming from programs that everyone kind of knows. I felt like almost all the EKY voters voted alike on a consensus candidate.

I don't know if there are many votes in WKY or if as many people are familiar with his good works. In addition, I could see Martels Carter or Jack James taking a few votes away from those voters if Tilghman makes their own Finals push. You also have Atwell doing his thing at OCath that Johnson must compete with.

Johnson's path probably begins and ends with reaching the State Finals and having a major performance there. 

2 minutes ago, ATLCat said:

Johnson's path probably begins and ends with reaching the State Finals and having a major performance there. 

This!

On 11/25/2024 at 12:14 PM, Hungover_in_Andover said:

Likely an uphill climb without offers. Again, based on past winners, it seems that is a necessary part of a winning resume.

Wow just watched a few of his games and you're absolutely correct this kid has a heart, tough and some athleticism...very exciting to watch when a kid plays the QB position and possess those kinds of skills and the coach tries to scheme around them ..

I don’t think being heavily recruited plays that big of a factor.  Travis Egan is another example of a past winner that wasn’t heavily recruited at all.

I agree with @ATLCat that a trip to the finals & a big performance there is a must.  However, if it’s CAL that they’re playing in the finals, it’ll be tough even with a solid performance as it’s likely he won’t be the best player on the field.  That will hurt for sure.

Bump.

Stage is set.  All anyone can ask for is an opportunity & he certainly has that on Saturday.  If he’s going to win it, Union Co. Will need to win & he’ll need to have a much greater performance than Conner Hodge.  It’s a tall task, but I’ve seen it done before in 2022.

If they’re competitive in the Championship just go ahead and send the trophy on over to Morganfield.

Along with all of this, he's put up incredible numbers in the playoffs when it mattered most to lead his team to Kroger Field. In 4 playoff games against teams ranked 3, 4 and 7 respectively in the November 4th edition of the Bluegrass Preps Top 10, he has 99 carries for 926 yards and 14 touchdowns. Along with 19 of 22 passing for 306 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively he's recorded 15 tackles and 3 interceptions. 

On 11/25/2024 at 11:39 AM, Voice of Reason said:

Doesn’t look like he has offers. He isn't listed on 247 sports. There are 40 players in KY listed. 

I know he has an offer from D2 Kentucky Wesleyan.  I'd selfishly love to see him in purple!