Jovon Johnson

Jovon Johnson
No. 2     Montreal Alouettes
Date of birth (1983-11-02) November 2, 1983
Place of birth Erie, Pennsylvania
Career information
Status Active
CFL status International
Position(s) CB
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 177 lb (80 kg)
College Iowa
Career history
As player
2006 Pittsburgh Steelers
2007 Saskatchewan Roughriders
2008 Erie RiverRats
2008-2013 Winnipeg Blue Bombers
2014-present Ottawa Redblacks
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star 2009, 2011
CFL East All-Star 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015
Honors 2007 Grey Cup champion
2011 CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award
Career stats

Jovon Johnson (born November 2, 1983 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is a Canadian football defensive back for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League. Johnson was the winner of the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award in 2011 while with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, becoming the first defensive back to win the award in the league. He is also a two-time CFL All-Star and five-time CFL East Division All-Star. In addition, he was a member of the 2007 Saskatchewan Roughriders that won the Grey Cup, though he spent little time on the active roster and finished the penultimate game on the practice roster.

High School and Collegiate Career

Johnson played his high school ball (and basketball) at Mercyhurst Prep. He attended the University of Iowa.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

He was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers after cornerback Chidi Iwuoma and linebacker Richard Seigler were placed on injured reserve. He spent all of his playing time on the Steelers' special teams recording 1 tackle and 1 assist. He was released from the Pittsburgh Steelers on October 27th, 2007.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

The Saskatchewan Roughriders signed Johnson on October 5, 2007 to a contract with and placed on their Developmental Squad. He made his CFL debut October 21, 2007 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In total, he dressed in eight games while playing in two. He was a member of the 95th Grey Cup championship team, although he did not play in the game itself.

Erie RiverRats

At the end of February in 2008, he was signed by his hometown Erie RiverRats of the AIFA.[1] In early 2007 he had signed to play with the city's previous AIFA franchise, the now defunct Erie Freeze, but did not play for the Freeze and decided to play for the Steelers instead.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Johnson was signed by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in April 2008 and started 17 of 18 games during the 2008 CFL season. He led the Bombers in defensive tackles with 57 and added 3 INTs.

He then returned to RiverRats for the 2009 AIFA season following a contract signing in January 2009. He was still under contract in the CFL however the season starts later in the year which would allow him to play in the AIFA.[2] After only one game, it was found out that there was a clause in Johnson's contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers that prevents him from playing with any other team.[3] With that, he returned to Winnipeg.

The 2011 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season proved to be a successful one for Johnson, helping to lead the Bombers to their first division title in ten years. He was part of a noteworthy Bombers' defence that had self-titled itself 'Swaggerville' and was named the CFL East Division's most outstanding defensive player.[4] Following this, Johnson was named a CFL East Division all-star for the third consecutive time, as well as being named to his second CFL All-Star team a short time later.[5][6] Johnson followed this up with an appearance as the first defensive back to win the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award.[7] He won the award as the standout player on a team full of talented defensive backs who led the league in fewest passing yards allowed, holding opponents to the lowest pass completion percentage, and led the league with most team interceptions. Johnson accomplished this with teammates such as Jonathan Hefney, Alex Suber, and Brandon Stewart.[8] Johnson continued to play at a high level for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Through 6 seasons with the Blue Bombers, Johnson amassed 363 tackles, 8 special teams tackles, 23 interceptions, 8 fumble recoveries and 7 defensive touchdowns. Following the 2013 Johnson, age 30, was not re-signed by the Bombers, becoming a free agent on February 11, 2014.

Ottawa Redblacks

On February 12, 2014, Johnson signed with the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League.[9] He recorded the first two sacks of his career during a forgettable 2014 season that saw the expansion club finish 2-16. The next year, however, the Redblacks finished first in the CFL East Division and Johnson was named an Eastern All-Star for the fifth time in his career.[10]

Statistics

Regular season   Tackles   Interceptions   Fumbles
Year Team Tackles Stt Sacks Int Yards Long TD FF FR Yards Long TD
2007 SSK 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2008 WPG 57 4 0 3 130 80 2 2 2 0 0 0
2009 WPG 75 1 0 6 163 73 1 0 0 0 0 0
2010 WPG 62 0 0 4 59 55 1 2 0 0 0 0
2011 WPG 55 0 0 8 104 67 2 0 0 0 0 0
2012 WPG 52 3 0 1 27 27 0 2 4 0 0 0
2013 WPG 62 0 0 1 17 17 0 0 2 48 48 1
2014 OTT 37 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
2015 OTT 54 0 0 5 53 26 0 0 4 0 0 0
WPG totals 363 8 0 23 500 80 6 6 8 48 48 1
OTT totals 91 0 2 5 53 26 0 0 0 0 0 0
CFL totals 463 8 2 29 553 80 6 6 9 48 48 1

References

Further reading

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