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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 26, 2017

Juwan Johnson

University Park, Pennsylvania

Q. How has the past 48 hours or so been for you? Everybody knew coming out of the spring and the summer that you were going to have a good year, and then you're a guy that for all intents and purposes is going to be on highlight reels for a long time. How has that been?
JUWAN JOHNSON: It's been kind of hectic to be honest with you. A lot of text messages, a lot of social media buzz. Just a lot of things going on. You have to keep your head straight on, obviously. My brother and my mother are always telling me to keep my head straight. Keep my head above water. That's pretty much the biggest thing in things like this. You have to put things into perspective. I know things happened. Had a good game. I know left a lot of plays out there. Could have done better about you came out with the win. That's the main thing here.

Q. So obviously people have been talking about you for a while and capped off with a big play this weekend. How have you grown since the time you got here to now? How would you evaluate your progress?
JUWAN JOHNSON: Tremendously, honestly. First, start off with me spiritually, I've grown tremendously in my spiritual walk with God. That pretty much put me in the position where I am now and me just dedicating myself in football and just invested in myself and what I had to do with my body and my mind, physically, and just the physical aspect. I had to devote a lot of time in getting better and being an asset to the team.

Q. Mike talked about how the two tight end set in fourth and one got drawn up literally on the sideline. Was there confusion? I remember you lining up and subbing after real quick. Was there any confusion?
JUWAN JOHNSON: There wasn't any confusion at all. It's kind of something that we already had in store. We just had a little tweak to it. We've been running that play all game long and we sort of just added a little twist to it, going to jump outside. So I had to cut, slip inside and make the catch. That's all I had to do.

Q. Do you see Joe kind of regularly grab the clipboard and draw up stuff up during games?
JUWAN JOHNSON: Not really. We sort of go through a long list of things throughout the week. We put in things and take out things. That's pretty much how it goes. We just run the plays that he wants to run. That's pretty much it.

Q. Mike was in here and telling us that in the summer he would text you late at night to go and get food and that you were usually over in Holuba or something. Were you working out on your own?
JUWAN JOHNSON: I would usually be -- either with Tommy, me, Tommy or Saeed would be in there, 11:00, 12:00, sometime probably like 1:00 or 2:00 -- we wore will at like 1:00. We would be there just working out because we knew we had a big season ahead of us and we knew we had a lot of expectations to fulfill and a lot of dreams and we wanted to beat teams by a lot. That's pretty much it.

Q. What does it mean when you have a guy like that who obviously Trace is in front of him, but putting in all the work that he's putting in behind the scenes?
JUWAN JOHNSON: Tommy is a great guy. I was friends with him before this, before he even got here. As our relationship grew, to be on him to work harder, harder, harder, because things are going to work out. That's pretty much it for that?

Q. What have you learned from DaeSean Hamilton since you've been here?
JUWAN JOHNSON: He's a worker. Even when I was a hard worker when I got here, but he was an even harder worker and he pushed me to be a harder worker and a leader, and a better person.

So he's a good friend of mine. He's a great friend. We always talk after practice when we're catching balls. He's definitely shown me a lot of things here. He showed me the ropes ever since I got here.

Q. Is there a level of excitement about the throwback aspect to this game? Is there anything about the unis you like in particular?
JUWAN JOHNSON: I like the uniforms. I like throwbacks like this. When I got here, I wanted to try a different uniform and see if Penn State could have a little twist to it. Tried to have my own ideas before I got here.

But I definitely like it, white cleats, white helmet, uniforms, everything. It's something new for me. I never had white cleats before, so it will be interesting.

Q. What were your ideas?
JUWAN JOHNSON: Oh, that's something I seen on the Internet. Just something little, with a little stripe on the side, something I found that I thought probably would never get by here. But I like it better so it doesn't really matter to be honest.

Q. You said spiritually you've grown a lot.
JUWAN JOHNSON: Absolutely.

Q. How specifically have you grown spiritually? Where were you before and where are you now and how much does that impact your play?
JUWAN JOHNSON: My mother has always been on me about always having a walk with God. She's never been pressing but just obviously giving me knowledge with Him. And then it's kind of just up to you if you want to be in a spiritual walk with Him. So for me, I just have daily devotionals or even reading a word at night. Stuff like that, just little things, one step at a time, just getting and growing closer with Him.

Q. Is there anything that changed, when you said, I wanted to start being more devoted?
JUWAN JOHNSON: I guess when times started getting rough, I guess you want to say. Didn't like my role on the team, I guess you want to say. It was accepted but I didn't like it. Freshman year, getting red-shirted obviously was another part.

But I just wanted to be better for myself, I guess I wanted to say. He's done so much, so why not? Why not grow closer with Him and know Him even more.

Q. I was wondering your choice behind number 84 when you got here as a freshman.
JUWAN JOHNSON: Kind of wasn't really my choice to be honest with you. When I was a freshman, in fairways, I had 84. And that kind of just went over to here when I was 84. Well, the U.S. Army game, I was 84 as well. Also wasn't by choice. I got here, 84 kind of just stuck. 84, it's kind of me. It's kind of my identity and kind of embraced it, 84 number.

Q. I believe you are part of the leadership council Coach was mentioning. What's it like for you guys to be in there and hear your teammates coming from a 100-plus different perspectives?
JUWAN JOHNSON: It's kind of their perspective. I respect any sort of belief that they have. I really don't have -- I really don't mind in whatever they do. I don't particularly necessarily care for what my say is. I don't really have a care. So whatever the teammates have in mind, I'll listen, but I don't particularly have a view on it.

Q. One of the other things we were talking about, looking at Saquon since he's been here and the attention he's getting now. What do you remember about when you first met, what was he like then?
JUWAN JOHNSON: He's the same exact person. He's still the same Saquon that I knew when we first went to the opening and we were at the opening. He hasn't changed a bit to be honest with you. I'm not saying this because I'm in front of a lot of people. He's the same person. Our relationship has grown. He's become a more mature person, and a better friend. So Saquon, he's awesome.

Q. Could you even imagine it would play out like this?
JUWAN JOHNSON: Honestly, it kind of just happened. I kind of envisioned it obviously. I mean, Saquon coming here, having a big year, big season, having great careers. I never really thought about it as in, we came here and oh, yeah, Saquon, Juwan. No, it's just fun that we're both having fun here and having a great time.

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