By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The start of the football season was big for Southern Alamance’s Tustin Johnson.
He was in uniform and on the field.
“I didn’t get to play a snap last year at all,” he said.
Johnson was involved in an all-terrain vehicle mishap in July 2024, the weekend prior to the start of official football practice. The result was snapping and shattering the humerus on his left arm. While surgery was avoided, there was a multiple-month recovery.
“I knew it was bad,” he said.
There was plenty of physical therapy along with idle time.
“It was hard just laying on the couch and really not being able to do anything,” Johnson said. “Really making sure I didn’t do anything dumb. Doing what the doctors were telling me.”
He figured to be Southern’s starting quarterback as a sophomore. Instead, when the 2024 season began with a game at Graham, he was watching from the sideline.
“The first game I got chills, I wish I was out there,” said Johnson, who was a 15-year-old at the time of the accident. “I was really beating myself up.”
With Johnson, who throws right-handed, out for the season, Nathan McNeal was used at quarterback.
Johnson is back in action this year, starting at quarterback. The Patriots (3-2 overall, 2-0 Mid-Carolina Conference are preparing for next Friday night’s showdown at Williams (4-1, 2-0).
Johnson returned to competition for the junior varsity basketball season and as a standout player for the lacrosse team.
First-year coach Jonathan Hester, a former assistant coach for the Patriots, said Johnson’s presence at quarterback provides opportunities for the Patriots to expand their playbook. He’s a better passer, the coach said.
“It opens up some more options if we’ve got to throw,” Hester said. “We can keep everybody honest.”
The situation has allowed McNeal to return to his natural position at running back, something he has been happy about.
“We don’t throw the ball much here, so I’d rather run it,” McNeal said.
The depth at running back has increased.
“Gets Nate back to halfback and let him really do his thing,” Hester said. “Let’s Nate do some of the other stuff and makes an impact.”
This comes without a drop-off at quarterback.
“He’s a good quarterback and he knows what he’s doing back there,” McNeal said. “He’s real accurate throwing and a good leader, too.”
Johnson, at 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, has been groomed for the quarterback spot. He said he liked “the new stuff” the Patriots worked on during the preseason and tweaks for formations on offense.
“He knows what he’s doing, so I trust him to throw the ball and all that,” lineman Brantley Messick said.
At the midway mark of the regular season, Johnson rates second on the team with three rushing touchdowns.
In addition to being back as an active player, there are expanded roles Johnson said he wants to fill. Those involve leadership.
“I’m kind of a quiet person,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to pick everybody up sometimes, but I’m trying my best. I’m going to have to step up.”
Hester said that’s in the works.
“He’s a young guy and he’s still learning that leadership,” the coach said. “He leads by example and all the right ways.”
Johnson said he also has been back on a side-by-side, but taking a cautious approach on four-wheelers.
“A little bit more safer,” he said.
