My-King Johnson is about to make history and become first active openly gay scholarship player in major college football history. The 6"4 225 pound defensive lineman will be a freshman for the Arizona Wildcats this season and hopes to contribute from day one.
Coaches reaction to the news
The former Tempe High School star came out to Arizona defensive line coach Vincent Amey during the recruitment process. The coach said that he will treat him just like everyone else, a football player. Amey also stated when his teammates find out he will make sure that they all have Johnson's back.
Knowing that he has the support of his teammates and coaches is vital to his early success in the Arizona program. Johnson said he came out to his family and friends when he was 12-years-old.
The importance of coming out
My-King Johnson understands how important it is for him to come out the way he did. This could potentially help other athletes going through the same situation feel a lot more comfortable knowing that they are not alone and won't have the burden of being the "first." My-King had this to say to the Daily Star about his coming out,"I’m a very honest person, I just don’t see how I could be living an honest, truthful life and have that in the background.” Those are strong words from someone who is just 17-years-old.
It also takes a lot of mental toughness to be able to come out publicly as being gay when you're a top-rated high school football recruit.
Johnson knows that despite his coming out that there will be instances where ignorant people will boo and heckle him when visiting other campuses for games but he's prepared for that. He tweeted this a few days ago, "I'm just here to play football." It definitely sounds like his head is in the right place and he's just focused on his sport and not all the attention that is going to come with being openly gay.
Its quite possible that in a few years if he works hard on his craft he could be playing on Sundays in the NFL and the fact that he's gay won't even be a conversation piece anymore. Instead, people will be talking about his play on the field, which is how it should be anyway.
