By KEVIN JAKAHI Tribune-Herald sports writer ADVERTISING DJ Grant-Johnson learned long ago a valuable lesson from his father to just kick away any form of apprehension. It’s one reason he was a potent weapon for Kamehameha-Hawaii, booting field goals and
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
DJ Grant-Johnson learned long ago a valuable lesson from his father to just kick away any form of apprehension.
It’s one reason he was a potent weapon for Kamehameha-Hawaii, booting field goals and banging balls for touchbacks.
So when Naval came calling, he jumped at the chance to serve in the military and decided to sign up with the Midshipmen, who are coached by Ken Niumatalolo, who played quarterback at Hawaii under Bob Wagner, now the Kamehameha athletic director.
That connection helped the senior field goal kicker and punter land a scholarship from the Midshipmen, who start their season Sept. 1 against Notre Dame in Dublin, Ireland. Grant-Johnson also played soccer but sat out this season. But he’s on the volleyball squad, in contention to grab one of the outside hitting spots.
“My dream was to play for UH. But they didn’t have any scholarships for kickers,” Grant-Johnson said. “But it worked out for the best. If Navy wins six games, they’re guaranteed a bowl game and they have two games (on ABC). It’s always been a dream since I was a little kid to play Division I football. At least my parents can watch me on TV.”
It was a late recruiting process for Grant-Johnson, who currently holds a 3.3 grade-point average and plans to major in English. He verbally committed last week and is still waiting for the national letter of intent papers to sign.
He went to a kicking camp last summer in Los Angeles, sent out letters with a link of his highlights and waited patiently until Navy showed the strongest interest among Football Bowl Subdivision schools (formerly Division I).
After his four years with the football team and graduation, he’s enlisted to serve five more years in the military. But he looks at that as a blessing rather than an obligation.
“With the way the economy is, after I graduate from Navy I’ll have somewhere to go and food on the table,” he said. “I don’t need to go looking for a job. When I come out, I’ll be commissioned as an officer.”
His ability to put things into perspective comes from his parents, Daniel and Sherie, especially his dad, who has muscular dystrophy and remains his son’s biggest role model.
Those lessons helped during Grant-Johnson’s senior season, an emotional toll with the cardiac arrest death of assistant coach Young Yu in August. Yu would stay after practice and help Grant-Johnson with his kicking.
“My dad graduated from St. Joseph with a 4.0 GPA, got a psychology degree from UH-Hilo and is president of Disability Rights Hawaii,” Grant-Johnson said. “He grew up on crutches and was in a wheelchair when he was 22 years old. I’ve never once heard him say, ‘I wish I could walk.’
“What I’ve learned from my dad is you’ve got to roll with the punches in life. You can’t stay down. You have to keep fighting. It was tough coming to practice. You just wanted to cry. But I know coach would have wanted us to keep going.”
In his senior season, Grant-Johnson made 10 of 11 field goals, with a long of 52 yards against Kohala at Pai’ea Stadium. In the last game of the season at home against Ka’u, he was just short on a 58-yarder, which would have set a state record.
As far as pressure, Grant-Johnson kicks away any apprehension.
“In those moments, I try not to think where I am. I try to think I’m somewhere else,” he said. “I like surfing. I think that I’m surfing. I’ve made that kick 100 times before. It’s another day in the office.”
