Former Mifflin star has new appreciation for football now that he’s coaching it
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Jan Johnson was too hyper-focused on the intricacies of playing inside linebacker during his Penn State days to consider the things that went on off the field: The game-planning, the preparation, the attention to the most minute of details that could determine the outcome of a game.
The Gov. Mifflin grad would memorize the game plans and digest video clips to learn what his opponent might throw his way, but how those plans came together, how the information was collected and presented to him . . . he never gave it a moment’s thought.
Now he does. It’s his job.
As an assistant defensive line coach at Virginia Tech he spends his days – long ones, mind you – preparing practice plans, doing video cut-ups, and updating the playbook so that his players can excel on the field as he once did.
After three-plus seasons on the Hokies staff he has gained a whole new appreciation for the details of the game and for the men who coach it.
“Until you step into somebody else’s shoes, you don’t have a (perspective of what they do),” Johnson said. “(When I played) I didn’t know the amount of time the coaches put in behind the scenes.”
He didn’t realize when he joined Brent Pry’s staff about this time in 2022 that he’d be in Virginia Tech’s Merryman Center each day before sunrise and usually not leave it until after sundown. Twelve-plus-hour days are the norm, even in the offseason.
“They couldn’t afford me hourly,” he jokes.
Jan Johnson always knew he would a coach; it’s in his DNA. His father, Jan Sr., coached wrestling and football at Gov. Mifflin. His uncle, David Johnson, coaches wrestling at Cocalico. The most influential figures in his life, like his high school coach at Gov. Mifflin, Mick Vecchio, are life-long coaches.
He had the grades and intellect to follow the path of his mother, Theresa, an attorney now serving as President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County. That might’ve been the smarter play; he went the other way.
Sports was too big a part of his life to venture outside that lane. He was an age-group champion swimmer, a two-time PIAA wrestling champion, and walked onto the Penn State football team where he played his way to a scholarship and served as a two-time team captain.
Always looking for a challenge, and thinking none was too great for him, he tried to crack the NFL; he spent time trying to make it with the Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
About the time Johnson’s pro chances began to dry up Pry, his former defensive coordinator at Penn State, was hired as Virginia Tech’s head coach. Knowing Johnson’s pedigree, intelligence, and work ethic he offered him a job.
“To have the opportunity to join the staff and help out here and help pay him back for all the stuff he did for me as a player, it’s been awesome,” Johnson said.
Johnson was offered a scholarship by Akron but had always longed to play for the Nittany Lions. That always felt like home to him; it’s where his mother was a swimmer and where his father wrestled.
He walked on at Penn State, ended up starting for two years, and left in 2020 with a master’s degree in management and organizational leadership
Before that he had a remarkable career at Gov. Mifflin where he earned All-State honors and was selected for the Big 33 Classic. He rushed for 1,197 yards as a senior in 2014, most ever at the time by a Berks quarterback, and set Mifflin single-season and career scoring records that stood until Nick Singleton came along.
The Mustangs won 39 games over Johnson’s four seasons, from 2011-14, and went 28-0 in league play, with four straight Berks Football League Section 1 titles.
He was an All-Berks pick as a quarterback and linebacker but had the size and skills to play any position on the field. As a senior he handled all the kicking and punting duties; he broke into the lineup as a freshman because of his blocking skills.
In a key win over Exeter in 2014 he ran for three scores, passed for one, kicked a field goal and four PATs, and recovered a fumble. In a 49-7 District 3-AAAA opener vs. Cumberland Valley, he scored four TDs, two on interception returns, rushed for 116 yards and threw a two-point conversion pass.
His only experience on the defensive line came as an eighth-grader, as a nose guard on the Mustangs’ freshman team; ironically that’s the position he now coaches.
He spent his first season in Blacksburg as a defensive analyst, and helping out with the linebackers; his second season he was a graduate assistant. Pry thought it was important for Johnson’s growth as a coach to learn more about defensive line play so he assigned him to that group, where he works closely with Virginia Tech defensive line coach J.C. Price.
“(Pry said that) to get to be a coordinator or a head coach, you’ve got to know more than one position,” Johnson said. “So this was a great way (to do that). He said you need to invest some time in learning how the front works. It starts up front and works its way back, and you need to understand how that affects everything else.”
Johnson studied former defensive coordinator Chris Marve and Price to learn how to break down film, how to run an efficient practice and how to coach up college talent.
“You don’t realize the amount of detail and time you spend planning a five-minute (practice) period,” Johnson said.
One of the keys to the job, he said, is learning how to break down information and present it in a simple form.
“You learn how to become a teacher,” he said. “That’s what we are, teachers.”
What Johnson, about to turn 29, likes best about his job is the chess match aspect: Figuring out what the other guys are going to do before they do it. He’s spent much of the offseason studying what other top defenses around the nation have done to be successful.
“You want to know who had the best red zone defense in the country,” he said. “What are they doing? How did they stop Georgia’s running game. (I enjoy) the constant learning and adapting to how the game’s changing. The mental part of the game is always enjoyable.”
During his first few seasons with the Hokies Johnson wasn’t sure if coaching football would become a lifelong endeavor. Now he knows.
“I continue to learn and immerse myself in this lifestyle,” he said. “I want to see where it takes me.”
