Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

On Jan. 8, Troy City Schools approved the hiring of former Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson. He will serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Charles Henderson High School football team.

Johnson comes to Charles Henderson after serving the past three seasons as a running backs and quarterbacks coach at Montgomery-Catholic.

“I felt like this was a great opportunity for me, being in the region and evaluating the young talent they have and I think Coach Phillip (Jones) has a good plan of how he wants to run things,” Johnson said of coming to CHHS. “We had a great conversation and he’s going to give me the opportunity to showcase my skills as a coordinator and coach and I’m thankful for that. I’m ready to get started.”

Johnson is a Montgomery native that was a star player at Carver-Montgomery, winning All-State and U.S. Army All-American honors in football along with earning All-State honors in basketball. He won Alabama Mr. Football in 2012 and was a finalist for Alabama Mr. Basketball.

Johnson went on to play college football at Auburn, throwing for 2,224 yards and 20 touchdowns with nine rushing touchdowns during his career. Following his college career, Johnson played professionally for the Columbus Lions in the National Arena League and Saskatchewan Roughriders in Canada.

In 2020, Johnson made the professional move to Mexico and became a star. He played for Raramuris de Ciudad Juarez in the Futbol Americano de Mexico league in 2021 and the Parrilleros de Monterrey in 2022. He threw 16 touchdowns in 2022 and was named his team’s MVP.

In 2023, Johnson joined Cuadillos de Chihuahua of the Liga de Futbol Americano Profesional (LFA), the top American Football league in Mexico. Johnson led Cuadillos to the first perfect season in league history and won the Tazon Mexico (League Championship) along with breaking the league record with 32 touchdown passes in the season.

Johnson led the Cuadillos de Chihuahua to a second straight Tazon Mexico Championship in 2024 and was named Tazon Mexico VII MVP after scoring four touchdowns in the Championship Game.

Johnson started his coaching career in 2019 as middle school coach at Southlawn Middle School, and then joined the varsity staff at Carver-Montgomery in 2021 as quarterbacks coach. He joined the staff at Montgomery Catholic in 2022 and coached running backs until taking over as quarterbacks coach in 2023. He helped lead Montgomery Catholic to back-to-back state championships in 2023 and 2024.
While Johnson said that he is officially retired from playing, coming fresh off the football field himself will likely help him relate and connect with Trojan players.

“I’m fresh off the field and some of these kids – and their parents – probably watched me play and I just want them all to know it can be done,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t matter what level we’re talking about, whether it’s Group of 5 or Power 4 or Division II or Division II, you want to approach the process and put in the work to be successful, and everyone can make it to the next level.”

Counting his playing days in Mexico and the last two seasons at Montgomery Catholic, Johnson brings four straight championships and zero losses during that span to Charles Henderson.

“I want to take things day-by-day and concentrate on building relationships with the kids and get them to buy into what I want to do and accomplish but winning is the goal,” Johnson emphasized. “I’m coming from playing and coaching at Catholic and haven’t lost a single game in the past two years – and won four championships – and I want to bring some of that winning over here to Charles Henderson.”

Johnson will also teach history at Charles Henderson High School.