Eric Sorenson
After a decorated prep career at Boulder Creek High, Hendrix Johnson leaves NAU as the school’s all-time receptions leader, capping off an extremely productive, and fulfilling, five years in Flagstaff where he never missed a game.
Earlier this week, “Zone Read” sat down with Johnson to talk about the past, present, and future – which hopefully includes a spot on an NFL roster next summer.
In the day and age of the transfer portal and players coming and going at an alarming rate, it’s rare that a student-athlete gets the absolute most from a school, and vice versa. I feel that description fits you and NAU perfectly. Now that your Lumberjack career has ended, what will you take away most from your experiences? “Probably the relationships I’ve made. Like you said, I’ve been so blessed to go somewhere for five years and be surrounded by so many amazing coaches, players, and teammates. Those relationships I’ll have for the rest of my life. Whether if it’s someone I met as a freshman, or somebody that came in in my last year. All the relationships have been such a blessing that I’ll be able to take with me, and talk to these people for the rest of my life.”
Did the five years go fast? “I feel like I did a good job of just being present in every single moment of every single year. Starting my first game and playing in every single game that took place while I was here, allowed it to slow down a little bit – probably slower than a lot of people would have gotten to experience. But at the same time, it did go by a little bit fast.”
A special record for a special player on a special day!@HendrixJohnson breaks Northern Arizona’s all-time receptions record that has stood since 1985-88 today on Senior Day!#RaiseTheFlag pic.twitter.com/Y1JErExnuM
— NAU Football (@NAU_Football) November 12, 2023
You became NAU’s all-time receptions leader in your final home game, on Senior Day, against Northern Colorado. Take us through the play which broke the record. “The play that I broke it, I think it was a screen, so I knew the ball was coming to me. I was the only option on that play and it was called for me to break the record which I was really grateful for. And, we were at a spot in the game where we were up. My coaches did a great job of getting me the ball in that position at the end of the game which was nice.”
Ever since I was a little kid when my parents used to drive me up every few years, I’ve always loved seeing games at the Walkup Skydome. For someone who’s never been to a game, much less played in one there, how would you describe it? “It’s unique. It’s different. Obviously, a lot of college stadiums aren’t inside in the first place. It gets really loud, even without as many people [as a bigger stadium] because it’s a dome. You’re up close and personal with every single fan. They’re hanging over the railings, which is right above where we go to the sidelines for special teams, offense, and defense throughout the game. It’s pretty cool. It’s really fun.”
After five years, did you finally adjust to the Flagstaff altitude? “It’s funny (laughing) because every time you go home for a few weeks over Christmas break and then come back up, you go through your first little run back. Your first workout can’t be the first run you had or else you’d be throwing up. But yeah, it’s gets you every time you take a little break.”
I know you and Coach [Chris] Ball were very close, both on the field and off of it. What sort of impact has he made on you not only as a player, but a person, too? “He’s the best. He’s the best coach I ever had. I was blessed to be in the same timeline as him. He came in and I was one of his first recruits. He was a man of faith.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Psalms 107:1 NIV— Chris Ball (@CoachChrisBall) November 23, 2023
“Everything he did was for the team. He took blame every single time we lost. He gave credit to the players every time that we won. He did things, and made history at this school, especially beating teams that we hadn’t beat in seven or eight years. Away games. Home games. Back-to-back games. Beating UofA. It was all because of him. He hired the right coaches that helped turn our season around, and helped turn this program around. It was really just a testament to how amazing of a person he is, how amazing of a father he is, of a friend he is. I was just blessed, not only to be coached by him, but be around him every day.”
There was quite a bit of noise around Coach Ball not having his contract extended. Do you feel NAU football is still on an upward trajectory, even with Ball and his staff no longer there? “Yeah, it’s still in an upward trajectory. I feel like it’s probably a few years behind where it was about to be, and that’s normal, especially in this business. I’ll always say he didn’t deserve it. We didn’t deserve it. The players that came back didn’t deserve it. Everybody was sick and hurt that it happened. Nobody agreed with it…I was excited to see everyone take the next step.
#️⃣4️⃣ Final @BigSkyFB Ranking
#️⃣1️⃣ Toughest FCS Strength of Schedule
#️⃣9️⃣ Preseason Coaches & Media Ranking@NAU_Football 📈 pic.twitter.com/O2aENe5wGs
— Coach Hoff (@Coach_Hoff_NAU) November 19, 2023
“It was going exactly how it was supposed to go. But at the same time, this is my school. I’ll be a Lumberjack for life and I’ll support any coach or any player, because this is who I am.”
One of your fellow wide receivers, and your roommate, Coleman Owen, is now in the transfer portal. Do you expect all of his production at NAU to potentially land him at a bigger, power program? “No doubt. Coleman could have left at any point and went to a Power 5 [program] but he’s just an amazing person, captain, and friend that…he loved Coach Ball so much. I don’t want to speak for him but we had so many guys on our team who could have went to bigger places and Coleman is one of the best.
Best teammate you could ever have
Will change a program in just one year
🙏🏼❤️ https://t.co/Hcb8gK4pfK— Hendrix (@HendrixJohnson) December 11, 2023
“He could have easily went to a Power 5 school and I totally expect him to. I hope he does.”
What are you doing now to prepare for a shot to play in the NFL? “It kinda sucks when your coach leaves because, obviously, Coach Ball would have helped so much, particularly coming from a smaller school. It looks like I’ll be down in the Valley, instead of staying up in Flag. I have to find a trainer for everything, and I’m still working on an agent.”
All Glory to God pic.twitter.com/NXbzFmkQTu
— Hendrix (@HendrixJohnson) November 27, 2023
I know you’ve already earned your degree in strategic communications. What would you like to pursue with that if football doesn’t work out? “So, I’ve always just planned on being a firefighter. That’s always been something that’s been really cool to me and I just wanted to find a way to serve my community. So, I picked a degree that I thought was interesting and I know there’s a lot of [strategic communications] that you can do that’s involved with football. Not so much in coaching, but more in the managing department in football and sports in colleges and universities…but I plan on being a firefighter and going to firefighter school.”
Would you ever consider coaching, in some capacity, at Boulder Creek, or any high school to help out the kids? “I don’t know. I do like helping kids. My little brother was on the freshmen team this year at Boulder Creek and I have two other younger brothers who are playing football.”
Wait, you have three younger brothers? “Yeah.” (laughing)
So, let me guess, does your brother who’s a freshman, play like eight different positions like you did at BC? “He just started playing. So, this was his first year playing. He’s on defense and he just sort of plays all over, not really in one particular spot. He really enjoys it. I have another brother who is 10. He’s only in flag [football] right now, but he does everything. He’s kind of crazy. Then my other brother, I think he’s four. I guess I should know that (laughing). We’ll see what he’s up to.”
Your coach at BC, Coach Cas [Tony Casarella], just resigned. Did you see that coming at all and have you reached out to him since? “No, I didn’t see that coming but I did talk to him. He actually reached out to me two days before he resigned and said he was grateful for me. I said the same thing to him and how much he meant to me.”
Thank you Coach Casarella for all your years coaching at Boulder Creek. You have been a great coach and mentor to the kids at BC. You will be missed and we wish you the best in your retirement from coaching. 33 years coaching, 19 years at BC & 8 years as Head Coach. Current 2023… pic.twitter.com/RA1I4n46Wg
— BCJags (@BCJagsFootball) December 7, 2023
Do you feel both your former schools, NAU and Boulder Creek, are both hitting reset with their head coaches. Do you see any parallels between the two? “You know, it’s funny, I didn’t really think about it until you mentioned to me what we were going to talk about. I was like, ‘Oh, man. All my coaches are moving on and doing different things.’ I was like, ‘Dang, that’s kind of interesting, you know?’ We’re in a weird little time period here. It is similar in some ways. Good things take time and Coach Cas was there all four years I was there. I was so blessed to play for him. He taught me so many things and he was one of the main reasons why I was able to play in high school, develop, and then play in college. He always cared so much about not just our school, but our community in Anthem, and all the people in it.”
