Let It Fly Media: Slow Grind - The D'Ernest Johnson Story

having been in person also we get calls all the time hey man how are you doing usually they don't end up being this is the only judge you know i want to know do you have any no positions that running back and it's just like this you need to choose the street so you choose better a lot of guys it ends right there you have to have something deep down inside of you i can really make a way out of this you know make a way out of here i remember telling him the baby didn't actually be here there for your kids like your dad wasn't there for you i always used to come and tell me you don't belong on that fishing boat when i belong i belong in that field [Music] slow burn slow ground means just staying focused on the ultimate goal the process doesn't come fast it takes time anytime you see anybody that come out of makgeolli and they make it you know there's a special person monkey is a small town probably about two stop lights if that outside of farming there's really nothing to do for people here in immokalee we're part of clark county and naples is part of carter county it's the same county but they're up here that we're down here and we look down upon it's sad it is what it is it's less fortunate out there and it's so hard to to make it out because of the things that are around you and the different avenues that you can go down i have to steer a lot of kids on the right path i can't say them all but i ain't going to ever stop trying to save them we used to always talk just because we grew up here doesn't mean this is where we're in i grew up in a project a three-bedroom apartment i was raised by my grandma and my aunt all of us always was close like i always told her i want i want you to have a relationship with your mom and your dad his dad was in prison mostly when he was growing up i was going through a lot i had at the time i had just lost a daughter to domestic violence they took me into like a shutdown i had to make some decisions after that it's always tough giving your child up but she knew that was the best thing to do her situation was kind of tough for her to like you know to raise us but she made sure we did everything the right way we stayed out of trouble we couldn't hang out really like that with our friends go to parties anything i always pushed them to do and go farther than we have this is all we know here in immokalee you see what you see and it start with the football program we got a legacy of good running backs you know everything's at the standard we're talking about a hall of fame running back he's starting offense edgar and james with five straight 100 yard games to his most he's smoother than me he's real smooth with the way he runs no lie they used to call me little baron sanders because i was shaking and baking everyone [Music] the way he ran the ball and the different plays he made he was an athlete no making that project and going to college that's big time just having people before me seeing those college coaches come in and talk to those guys but i want them to talk to me too i can really make a way out of this you know make a way out of here we thought the arnold's gonna go to north carolina i don't know what happened with that but you know you know you know god's plan south florida the best place for him when i say the name dearness johnson what's the first thing that comes to your mind uh junkyard dog the whole city came out just to see us shine boy junkyard dog is a badass he's gonna get it done i don't care how big you are how fast you are he's gonna find a way we had another running back at the time marlon mack that was getting all the attention and getting all the carries not one time that the artist get ticked about anything he just came to work he was going to be in the game on third down for sure because he always came up with a big play for us it would be happening continues like i run and get the first down like that put me in a little difficult situation it's like you're the junkyard dog you just clean it all up for us [Music] um i can tell he was nervous he didn't want to tell me i told all our guys you know don't don't have any kids while you're in college you know i was mad i was mad the mother of his child she told me she was scared to tell the whole family i was like get over it you know once the baby comes i knew that dearness was going to do the right thing knowing that he didn't have his father his life he was going to be there for his son i told him that's the most important thing to me and getting this degree is part of taking care of that baby we all played a part i just told him be the daddy you can be in your state you can't come home and be that you know awesome dad where you're with your son 24 7 because what you're doing now is building the foundation for him later on teammates they encouraged me you know they when i brought my son around you know they they always show them love checking on them and seeing how you doing that big my mind is right and focus on being a great father also i told both of them [Music] break the cycle break the cycle for a father to have that much love for his child that he never experienced from his father it it brings joy and it's overwhelming and that lets you know that that love that he has inside of him has always been there always been there with the first pick in the 2018 nfl draft the cleveland browns third they came around you know i got my family with me i got my girlfriend everybody just hanging out in san francisco 49ers called me so i'm like okay i think it's a call like they call me they say uh hey man yo we love you a lot you know we definitely want to sign you you know after the draft i ain't here nothing at all so i'm like man i called him i said hey man you know this is the end they say hey we end up signing another running back after that i didn't hear anything so i'm like man that that's about one of the saddest days i don't have you know i don't i left my family i left everybody and drove off to the lake man i just sat there and i cried man i i cried i really cried because you know that was my my dream again drafting and that hurt me a lot monday morning came around that's when the new orleans saints uh called me and they said hey you know we want to invite you to our rookie uh three-day minican i'm like okay i can make this scene i'm doing pretty good the coaches said i'm doing good then uh you know there's calling people in to see if uh they're gonna sign your stuff so they ain't you know not calling me in and i'm like man this can't be right i was supposed to be here and you know it was heartbreaking i ended up hit my friend up and he always told me like whenever you want to come down the fish and make some money you know i'm one phone call away so i end up making that call and telling i'm gonna come down there and go fish the first week it was it was fun you know i've got that fish you know seeing different type of fish seeing sharks and all kind of stuff like that about a week later you drain your body's drain like you know you get tired of riddling the fish in and they get heavy and heavy i'm like oh man this here i can't really i can't really do this and you gotta wake up and do it again the next day i'm like man but i did it just because you know i got a son a five-year-old son that i you know try to make sure i take care of and you know i had to sacrifice everything to do that and that's what i had to do a lot of time people just gonna give up they're gonna they're gonna let a situation kind of determine their fate when he understood his potential he understood what he had going for himself and he never let up he always used to call me and tell me man i don't belong on that fishing boat where i belong i belong to that field at that moment i told him like you know i appreciate the opportunity but you know i gotta i gotta go continue to go chase my dream what was your first impression of dearest i loved him because he's a hugger i'm a hugger jasmine's lease was ending and the earnest was actually staying with jazz because his lease had ended she said we just need a couple of months to get on our feet and we won't be in your hair too long that ended up being longer than they thought he was kind of in a slump to this day i think that was like the toughest thing that we've gone through in our relationship because even when he was down you know i still had to somehow pull him through that and i didn't know how to handle it at the time it just made us realize like how much we actually needed each other she didn't give up on me you know she she bleeded me more than i believed myself at that moment and that was the biggest thing keep moving forward and that time will come you can still get your football fix with a new pro league that's starting up the alliance of american football this league looks to complement the nfl and could also give some college stars a second chance at their dream i seen the opportunity of a new football league coming up this was the last chance hotel if it wasn't gonna happen here you weren't gonna play i said i'm just calling everything hey how you doing you know this is just having you know positions open that running back and then i say no and we did not have a spot for it it wasn't like no i don't like it we got a good group we'll see somebody gets hurt blah blah blah and that did happen that's how otherwise he wouldn't have got a shot with us well we went over as coaching staff uh we're gonna bring you in you know into training camp but we're not gonna sign i said that's all i need he came in and he was fourth or fifth and i it was no guarantee he was going to make the team this is where i give credit to coach spurrier he would you know he'd do a little something pretty who's that guy you know because we were just we were all learning these guys we didn't know these guys she throws the errors out there it was impressive johnson out to the right side of football again you know it was just a blessing just i had the time in my life he went to that game and he ran and did a little dance at the end like i got emotionally understand i'm the emotional one you have to give him credit for that he was dogging in his persistence i'm gonna do this and i'm gonna be the back that you that you lean on he knew it we had to figure it out he can do this he it's been there and just like give him a chance the alliance of american football is no longer a thing and that is very af ended i end up going back to gainesville to uh work hot now i'm working out for real now so that's how i got uh linked up with uh tim montgomery very close to um tim montgomery's family and i was aware that there were multiple athletes in town that were training with him at the time my body wasn't used to stuff like that i'm out there throwing up and stuff i'm like okay i like this like this is what i need dearness threw up every single day his fiancee would send me pictures of him sleeping on the couch sleeping on the floor but he would show up the next day sore tired and ready to go and that told me a lot about himself that's when i ended up getting a call for a workout with the new england [Music] patrons [Music] i was getting ready to go uh for a morning yoga class and that's when the brown said hey what are you doing right now you think you're gonna catch up get on the plane and fly off for another workout they end up you know bringing me up to the office and saying hey you know we just want to say you know you want to sign your time 90 million rosters so i'm like thank god like a great feeling man i can't even sign a paper because i was shaking he sent me a text saying obj told him whatever you did in the off-season keep doing it because you came back different and i mean i had to pull off the road and yell out the window but there was a flag in the pocket nick chubb oh holding his right leg kareem hun immediately off the sideline with hunt he can handle a big load if chubb is indeed out the ernest johnson also active the cowboys game i was cuddled up on the covers i had the phone right here and i was just in my zone i had my earplugs in i text him before the game i had told him you know whenever you get to opportunity just seize the moment and just you know just make it your best once i seen him get the first carry i was like oh yeah i already know what time it is and on first down they give it to him diernas johnson up the middle drives the pile up to the 14-yard line as they get the bronze the first down out of the 20-yard line on two runs by diernas johnson kids johnson vincent to the outside right 20-25 he's out over the 30 out to the 31 near the 32-yard line how about darius johnson nine yards away from his first career everything i've been through growing up you know having this dream of making it to the nfl i even got a tet on me in high school uh with a dream catcher and just i looked down and said hey i'm finally here like it was just one of the biggest moments of my life man just being able to say you finally made it [Music] being on the boat working out working he never gave up because he knew what his passion was he knew where he wanted to be even when he went to the other football league a lot of guys it ends right there you have to have something deep down inside of you i know where it comes from and nobody's gonna bear to break it [Music] that's how they want all the stories to go and they don't right so when you get one defies all the odds then you live for those stories that makes it all worthwhile to this day um try to compare guys to him you know i need a guy like the ernest johnson we're going to keep it moving now we're going to keep that train moving on let's get it oh god's not through him yet they haven't seen nothing yet that's just a taste of what the earrings can do dearness already had that greatness it's been a long journey and i just try to make sure i seize every moment of it it's just him that's what's in his heart and that's how he plays the game and you can see it you know it doesn't take long once you really put your eyes on what the guy's made of you

Channel: Let it Fly Media

Views: 41,194

Keywords: Let It Fly Media, Kansas City Video, Video, Company, Marketing, Brand, Drone, Camera, Videography, Editing, Kansas City, KC, KCMO, Missouri, Corporate Video, Video Production, D'Ernest Johnson, Dernest Johnson, AAF, NFL, Cleveland, Browns, Football, Player, Story, Sports, Amazing, Agency1, Agency 1, Agency One, Aston

Id: QNzOP0Fb1VE

Length: 16min 9sec (969 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 09 2021