There are a lot of different emotions running through Prairie View middle linebacker Keyshawn Johnson as Saturday’s SWAC Championship Game showdown against No.5 Florida A&M inches closer.
The fifth-year senior is looking to extend the time with his teammates with one more win. Johnson, who began his collegiate career at Louisiana-Monroe, is playing for his first championship. He is reflecting on his two years on The Hill, his accomplishments with his teammates on the field, and also graduating this past summer with a master’s degree in Juvenile Justice.
But Johnson is also thinking about 45-7. That was the disappointing outcome when the Panthers traveled to FAMU at the end of October.
Prairie View returns to the scene at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday (3 p.m., ESPN2) with the SWAC championship and a slot in the Celebration Bowl on the line.
“I don’t think you get over it. It just adds to the fire,” Johson said of the 38-point loss to the Rattlers. “We’re not going to get whooped and not try to come back. It’s the SWAC Championship. We’re going to get on them.”
The Rattlers put up 453 yards of offense that day with quarterback Jeremy Moussa throwing for 272 yards and three touchdowns and Houston native Jah’Marae Sheread catching four balls for 76 yards, which included a 52-yard scoring reception.
Keyshawn Johnson
Prairie View Linebacker
Class: Graduate Student
High School: Duncanville
Previous School: University of Louisiana-Monroe
Accomplishments: Undergraduate degree: Toxicology. Master’s degree: Juvenile Justice
Quote: “I’m taking it one step at a time. All I’m thinking about is we have to win this game and then I get another week to play with my guys.”
“They are not tricky, they’re not trying to do any misdirection. They are more, `You know what I’m going to do. I’m going to keep running the same play. My guys are better than yours.’ We just got to prove that is not the case.”
Panthers on a run
Since the Oct. 28 loss to FAMU, the Panthers have won three straight games to lock up the SWAC West Division title to land back in the SWAC Championship Game for the second time in the last three seasons. Johnson attributes the turnaround to a players-only meeting right after the loss to FAMU.
The honesty among teammates became the difference in what Johnson said had been a rocky season up to that point.
“It’s been up and down, but God has put us in the right spot at the right time,” Johnson said. “We lost to some teams I don’t think we should have lost to. But I think it all fell in the right place. We lost, but we came back even stronger. We had these players-only meetings to get everybody on the same page.”
The emotional leader
Such a turnaround requires strong leadership, and that is something Johnson has provided the Panthers with this season. He was initially quiet when he transferred to PV in 2022, but he has developed into an outspoken leader who challenges all of his teammates to be better, including quarterback Trazon Connley.
“He has meant the world,” said PV coach Bubba McDowell. “He is one of them dudes, very smart, very verbal. That’s what you want in a linebacker. You want a leader in the middle, who can get that front lined up and turn around and get the secondary lined up and then to his left and his right get his two partners lined up to get ready to make plays.”
Johnson, a two-year starter for the Panthers, has also made his fair share of plays. He leads Prairie View and ranks 11th in the SWAC in tackles with 79 stops (35 solo) on the season.
Feeling disrespected
But what was surprising this week is neither Johnson nor any of his defensive teammates were on the All-SWAC first and second teams picked by the conference coaches after playing well enough to win the division. Prairie View only had two offensive linemen make the two teams.
For Johnson, it felt reminiscent of the slight the Panthers took this preseason when they were picked to finish near the bottom of the division despite coming within a play of winning the West division last season and bringing back a great deal of talent, including Connely and Johnson.
The Panthers’ counterpart in the SWAC Championship, FAMU, has 13 players on the All-SWAC squad.
“We were disrespected from the jump; fifth place,” Johnson said. “I don’t understand how we could be fifth place after we were inches from the SWAC Championship. And then they just added more onto the fire this week, putting nobody on defense on the all-conference team. I feel like there were at least three or four people who could have made the team.
“I feel when it comes to stuff like that, coaches vote on it… It’s just very disrespectful because now it’s just saying we just lucked up into this position or we have ordinary players playing, and that’s not the case. We have talent just like everyone else, and we should be respected as such.”
Johnson says the chip on the Panthers’ shoulders this week feels more like a boulder. The hope is that boulder will help produce a different result against the Rattlers on Saturday.
“We have a new swagger about ourselves,” Johnson said. “It’s not the same team that played FAMU the first time.”
