Catchin’ Up With The Cats

Julius Johnson, junior linebacker, has been a commonly heard name on Saturdays for the Cats. Julius topped off his sophomore season with 86 tackles and a spot on American Southwest (ASC) Second Team All-Conference. But, the numbers on the field do not show what kind of person Julius Johnson really is when he’s not sporting the blue and orange on Saturdays.

Julius’s initial plan coming out of high school did not even involve Louisiana College. “I had a preferred walk on somewhere else; but, when I came here, I felt wanted. They (LC) take care of their stuff and take pride in it and I loved that”. Julius is not a guy who wants to ride on someone else’s success. He wants to create his own success. “I’ve always been a part of a rebuilding program; I like it. You can create change for generations to come”. Julius has been true to his word. As stated earlier, during his sophomore year, he had a total of 86 tackles which is 15 behind the newly awarded single season tackle leader, Orel Ladet.

Julius has changed his major three times from kinesiology to education and now to social work. I was curious why he chose to study social work and he explained to me that he wants to help kids on a personal level. Julius was a “class clown” in school. He told me he has had his fair share of discipline problems when he was growing up. Now, he wants to use these earlier experiences to help kids who are like him when he was younger. Julius wants to give kids a father figure. “Not everyone has a dad; and I want to fill that role and help kids achieve things in life by showing them the right way of how to do things”.