Cardinals

for the experience, or thankful for Chien’s friendship.

“I can just focus more on football now,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about getting up and cleaning toilets and cleaning drains and stuff. I’m definitely glad I get to actually do what I love and get paid for it.

“My boss (Chien), I talked to him. He’s been working there, doing it for about 40 years now, and he just said: ‘Man, you don’t want to be here. So definitely, if anything, get your education and then play football for as long as you can.’ ”

The lone male in a set of triplets and one of six children reared by a single mother, Johnson has never had it easy in life. He’s had to work hard for everything he’s received, and it’s taught him a valuable lesson.

“It’s made me appreciate everything that I’ve done and everything that I had to sacrifice and go through,” he said, “especially in the summer when a lot of people are on vacation and I had to do a job and I had to work out. I’m definitely glad that it all paid off.

“It taught me not everything is handed to you. If you want something, you have to go get it. You have to work for it. You have to get a job. You’ve got to want it bad enough to go get it.”

Nothing was as bad as his first year at Northern Iowa when he took a job through a coach’s friend and was hired to do asbestos removal.

“Yeah, that did not work out too well,” Johnson said, laughing.

Johnson didn’t handle any of the real potent stuff, which can cause cancer to many who work around asbestos. His job involved removing tiles at an old school and scraping off the dangerous black-tar adhesive, which amounts of asbestos.

“We had to wear these suits with a mask and remove all the glue because it was harmful for the students,” he said. “It was like100 degrees out and I was losing so much weight, I was just dead tired.

“It was definitely not a fun job. It was hot, I was sweating, and it was hard for me to keep my weight on for sure. Practice was nothing by the time I got done with that.”

Now his only work will be in the study room, the film room and on the football field. The Cardinals are banking that Johnson will help serve as a1-2 offensive punch for the Cardinals behind and/or alongside Andre Ellington.

“I think we can both complement each other,” Johnson said.

Chien, the longtime facilities mechanic at Northern Iowa, had a compliment of his own to pass along about Johnson.

“You guys are absolutely going to love this kid down there,” he said. “His values are there. He really cares about his schooling and he wants to get his teaching license because he wants to become a coach some day. He’s such a good kid. ...

“This young man really deserves a shot and I’m glad he’s getting it.”

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