The Louisiana high school football record of 60 career sacks is a lofty goal for most defensive linemen.
Eclipsing the national number of 70 career sacks is an even more daunting task.
But those are just two of many achievements O. Perry Walker High School phenom and LSU commitment Anthony Johnson hopes to reach in his promising football career.
Johnson put an early dent on the mark in his first season for the Broncos, wrecking opposing offensive lines and wreaking havoc on quarterbacks to the tune of 17.5 sacks, a freshman state record.
The New Orleans native racked up 16 more sacks his junior season and increased his total to 50 entering his senior year.
Johnson, the Scout.com No. 2-rated Louisiana recruit in the 2011 class, is 10 sacks away from cementing his legacy in Louisiana defensive linemen lore, and he plans on seizing the sack title in record fashion.
“I’m going to try to push myself to do that in four games,” Johnson said.
Wyatt Harris, Johnson’s trainer at Sonic Boom Speed Conditioning and Strength Training Academy in New Orleans, has set the bar even higher.
“We’re going to get that,” Harris said about the state and national sack record. “We’re going for 30 sacks [this season]. We want national player of the year.”
The 4A Defensive State MVP in 2009 has beenworking for two years with Harris, who Johnson sees as a father figure.
“I train like I never have a scholarship,” Johnson said. “You can achieve anything if you work hard. I just put that to the test.”
Rene Nadeau, college football analyst for TigerVision and ESPN, has seen Johnson and Harris work together at Sonic Boom.
“[Johnson] was about 4 feet away from a box 2-feet high, and he was jumping onto the box while he had an elastic band around his waist weighing him down about 100 pounds,” Nadeau said. “It goes to show the explosion of a guy that big.”
Sonic Boom hosts athletes like LSU junior quarterback Jordan Jefferson and New Orleans Saints cornerback Tracy Porter and wide receiver Robert Meachem.
“Of all the guys I’ve ever trained, that guy — he’s the gorilla in the room,” Harris said about Johnson.
Johnson is a “complete monster,” according to Harris, but the 6-foot-3-inch, 280-pound high school senior is known by most as “The Freak.”
“I got my nickname ‘Freak’ when I committed to the University of Tennessee,” Johnson said. “I ran a 4.7 40-yard dash and was 6 foot 3, 311 pounds. From that point on [former Tennessee defensive coordinator] Monte Kiffin started calling me ‘The Freak.'”
LSU coach Les Miles, defensive line coach Brick Haley and running backs coach Frank Wilson swayed Johnson to switch his pledge to LSU.
Wilson was the head coach of O. Perry Walker from 2000 to 2003, and Wilson recruited Johnson while wide receivers coach at Tennessee in 2009.
Johnson said Wilson was a large reason he changed his commitment from the Volunteers to LSU days after Wilson was hired by the Tigers in December.
“Coach Frank Wilson is a great guy,” Johnson said. “He’s very family oriented. He looks at the person rather than just the person’s skills.”
The blue-chip recruit recently made the decision to start his promising college career early by enrolling at LSU this spring.
Johnson, who is ranked by ESPN as the No. 2 recruit in nation, said he always wanted to get a jumpstart on the rest of the recruits from the 2011 class.
“It’s going to be a big advantage for me,” Johnson said. “Hopefully I can work with the ones and twos in the spring. I want to make my impact felt at LSU.”
The Tigers will be thin at defensive tackle next year because starters Drake Nevis and Lazarius Levingston are seniors.
“I really want to play early,” Johnson said. “[Miles] told me come in early, and I could really play.”
The Scout five-star recruit will likely battle will-be sophomore Michael Brockers and will-be junior Josh Downs for a starting role on the defensive line.
“If O. Perry Walker would let him take off on Saturday nights, he could play for LSU without a doubt,” Nadeau said. “I would be extremely surprised if he doesn’t start or get significant minutes next year.”
 
 
 
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Contact Michael Lambert at [email protected]