This is some McGyver-level moxie right here.
Joshua and Jacob Johnson are twin brothers who are getting set to begin the eighth grade in Geismar, Louisiana. At 5-11 and already weighing in the neighborhood of 240-245 pounds, they are also very talented football players on both the offensive and defensive lines.
Too young to actually participate in an LSU football camp last month, the twins were taken to it by their trainer, former collegiate defensive back Keith Ballard, under the assumption that they would be spectators and not participants. Unbeknownst to both the trainer and the players’ father, however, the sibling duo fudged some of their particulars -- i.e., they “enhanced” their ages upwards -- in order to participate in the clinic.
“They must have taken their money out of their piggy bank, because when I turned around, they had forged the paperwork and had signed up for the camp and started doing drills with the rest of the linemen,” Ballard said by way of USA Today High School Sports. “I asked them, ‘What are you doing?’”
From the report:The twins’ father, Herm Johnson, said he was a little shocked but not angry that his sons had signed up for the camp, even if they had to lie about their age to get in.
“These dudes have put us on a roller coaster ever since they came about,” he said. “I’m not going to lie. I think they have the heart and skill level to compete.
Despite the shenanigans that got them there, the twins caught the attention of the Tigers’ current football boss.
LSU head coach Ed Ogeron will work hard to keep these 2023 Offense Defense All-American twin bothers {Joshua & Jacob Johnson} in Tiger Country. The rising 8th graders said that they grew up loving LSU. GOOOOOO TIGERS! pic.twitter.com/mPhEoblkYC
— Keith Ballard, BA, MS, PES (@iam_quick6) June 25, 2018
And, yes, the Johnson brothers would be a part of the 2023 recruiting class. Whether Coach Eaux will still be there to sign them as part of that year’s class certainly remains to be seen.