Sleeping giant plays big for UCF
With sleep apnea behind him, Jordan Johnson plays a key role in helping the Knights reach the Peach Bowl.
UCF center Jordan Johnson had a simple, but slightly unusual Christmas gift request this year.
“I want someone to buy me one of those sleep masks to go over your eyes when you’re sleeping so I won’t have brightness of the light keeping me up at night,” he said.
That light he’s referring to comes from a machine he sleeps with every night to treat his sleep apnea, a common but serious condition that leads to interrupted breathing during sleep.
No one can say for sure how long Johnson suffered from poor sleep. But he knows it was this spring when he got the first night of quality sleep he can recall in 19 years. You could call it an early Christmas miracle for both Johnson and the UCF football team.
The Knights’ improved offensive line is easily the most important factor that helped fuel the program’s unprecedented 12-0 run. And Johnson’s new role at
center this season played a huge role in the group’s production.
Last year, Johnson started 12 of 13 games at right guard as a true freshman. Coaches moved him to center in the spring to replace departing senior Jason Rae. The new role meant an increase in responsibility and work load. But there was a problem. “I used to tell the training staff that I was always tired and they were like, ‘We’re out here in the heat. Of course you’re going to be tired,’” Johnson said. “I was like, no. I’m like really tired.”
UCF director of sports medicine Mary Vander Heiden and head strength and conditioning coach Zach Duval diligently worked through a process of elimination for the past year to figure out why the young offensive lineman was always running low on energy.
Both Vander Heiden and Duval have emphasized the importance of rest in the recovery process for athletes. But they also know how stress can interrupt that recovery — particularly for freshmen who are adapting to the challenges of college life on and off the field.
Last year, Duval ordered Omegawave devices for athletes to measure the time between heartbeats. This allowed him and his team to determine how much stress the athlete’s body was under. His team recorded each player’s results every day for the past year to have a database to track changes.
Duval noticed Johnson’s body was perpetually in a higher state of stress even after lighter practice days. He also knew the offensive lineman wasn’t sleeping very well because his and Vander Heiden’s team also help monitor athletes’ sleep with an app on their phones.
Deeper sleep means more oxygen is flowing throughout their bodies, providing recovery for their muscles.
Johnson never reached deep sleep.
“He’s the guy that gets eight or nine hours of sleep, but he never feels recovered. … Let’s figure out what [is causing this],” Duval said. “So this [Omegawave monitoring] with the sleep [monitoring] and practice [monitoring] creates some conversation. Through that conversation, we went to Mary and said I think we have some sleep apnea problems here.”
Vander Heiden already knew something was off with Johnson. Since he arrived on campus, she said he had a stuffy nose almost every day. Sometimes players sleep with the air conditioner turned down too low in the dorms and that can cause some nagging coldlike symptoms. But that wasn’t the case for Johnson.
Team doctors prescribed him antibiotics, but that wasn’t clearing his stuffy nose. At the suggestion of Vander Heiden and Duval, Frost even cut back on his number of reps in practice. Johnson said he once flatlined on his energy level after losing to Maryland in double overtime last September. He said he was literally ordered to rest for an entire day.
Vander Heiden probed Johnson for more information regarding his health and she set him up with Dr. Tara Monette for further investigation. One of Monette’s specialties is sleep disorders and her husband, Dan, is the team physician.
Johnson underwent some testing at Monette’s clinic in Sanford this spring. People who have at least 60 interrupted breaths during sleep are diagnosed with sleep apnea. Johnson said he had at least 80.
Vander Heiden ordered him a device called a CPAP, an abbreviated term for continuous positive airway pressure, to help Johnson sleep at night. The device, which has a mask attached, pumps more oxygen into his nose at night, which allows him to fall into a deeper — and more productive — sleep.
“According to Jordan, he hadn’t slept in years. It changed everything for him and it was super rewarding to be a part of that process,” Vander Heiden said of Johnson’s diagnosis and treatment. “He came in a totally happy kid, very excited and was like, ‘Ms. Mary, I slept all night.’ It was awesome and really good to hear him say that.”
UCF football officials noticed an almost immediate difference in Johnson. Duval said Johnson was able to more consistently reach his weight room numbers, his energy increased and he was able to better achieve lean muscle mass.
“It probably will have exponential benefit in the future,” Duval said. “Anyone that’s not sleeping, that’s going to affect your school, relationships, performance and nutrition.”
Johnson said he’s grateful to have gotten the necessary diagnosis and treatment that allowed him to finally sleep.
Now, in addition to the sleep mask, he needs one final Christmas gift — more Peach Bowl tickets. The sophomore offensive lineman was born in Macon and he’s expecting a large crowd of family and friends in Atlanta at the No. 12 Knights’ New Year’s Day matchup with No. 7 Auburn.
“I’m just asking anybody if they have any extra tickets and if they can send them to me,” Johnson said with a slight chuckle. “But I know my mom and brothers will be there.”