Defensive backs are often displeased to see KeeSean Johnson. That means they have to cover him. Good luck with that.

JuJu Hughes, by contrast, couldn’t have been more excited to renew ties with Johnson when the Saskatchewan Roughriders opened Coors Light Training Camp in May.

Hughes and Johnson were previously teammates at Fresno State University, where the latter was a game-changing presence on offence.

“He has every receiving record at Fresno State,” said Hughes, who is likely to start at defensive halfback against the host Calgary Stampeders on Saturday. “If you look at the history of the receivers who played there, there’s a lot of great ones — like Davante Adams.

“There were a lot of guys over there. That’s as simple as I can put it. And KeeSean has every record over there, easily.

“He’s a great player. I couldn’t say enough about him. I could go on and on all day. He made things easy for the quarterbacks. He challenged defences vertically and with the quick game. Smooth hands. Smooth routes. He can do everything you want a receiver to do.”

That has been evident since Johnson joined the Roughriders in 2024. After playing in 12 games as a newcomer to the CFL, he enjoyed a breakout season in 2025 — catching 86 passes for 1,159 yards in 16 games. He also led the league in second-down receptions (39) en route to earning All-CFL laurels.

Johnson’s ability to move the chains was also celebrated at Fresno State.

“Every third down was the KeeSean Show,” Hughes recalled. “Everybody in the stadium— everybody in the Mountain West Conference — knew where the ball was going, and it still got there.

“Every second-and-long or third-and-long, we all knew who the ball was going to. He still made every play every week.”

It all looked so familiar to Hughes on Saturday when Johnson caught nine passes for 131 yards in a season-opening, 31-27 victory over the B.C. Lions at Mosaic Stadium.

Two of Johnson’s receptions were part of an 11-play, 82-yard game-winning drive that culminated in a six-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Harris to Samuel Emilus with 46 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Once again, the Roughriders derived immense benefits from Johnson’s ability to make clutch catches.

“I’m a competitor,” he stated. “I don’t like losing. It’s a part of the game at times, but I try my best not to. That’s just my competitive nature.

“It has been like that since I was young. My dad instilled that in me. That’s something I kind of took away for the rest of my life.”

He also inherited a humble, polite, self-effacing nature.

Whereas his virtual namesake — former NFL receiver Keyshawn Johnson — wrote a book titled “Just Give Me the Damn Ball,’’ the Roughriders’ No. 3 will never say anything as brash.

“The game of football is a team sport,” said Johnson, who is from East Palo Alto, Calif. “It’s not a one-man job. A lot of people rely on each other. That’s something I always try to keep in the forefront.

“I’ll always be a team guy.”

Part of that mindset was shaped by Johnson’s older brother, Vince Miles.

“I learned a lot from him,” the 29-year-old son of Sean Johnson and Monique Burns said, “and he learned a lot from my parents.

“He actually played offence when he was younger but, once he got to college, he played defence. He played safety and he was always teaching me things. Him being an older brother, he was stronger and faster at a certain age. Him not taking it easy on me only helped me in the long run.”

Miles blazed the family’s trail in U.S. college football, playing at Arizona and San Jose State. In fact, Miles and Johnson were on opposing teams on Sept. 26, 2015 at Spartan Stadium in Fresno, Calif.

During the third quarter, Miles made a tackle on a running play. Four plays later, Johnson caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Ford Childress.

“That was my first collegiate touchdown,” Johnson said with a smile. “He won the game, but I won the one-on-one battle between me and my brother.”

Seventeen more touchdowns followed at Fresno State, where Johnson set career marks in catches (275) and receiving yards (3,463).

“He made it look easy all the time,” Hughes reflected. “It was just effortless on third down. He’d keep the sticks moving all the time.

“It was great to watch.”