JuJu Hughes<\/a>, by contrast, couldn\u2019t have been more excited to renew ties with Johnson when the Saskatchewan Roughriders opened Coors Light Training Camp in May.<\/p>\nHughes and Johnson were previously teammates at Fresno State University, where the latter was a game-changing presence on offence.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has every receiving record at Fresno State,\u201d said Hughes, who is likely to start at defensive halfback against the host Calgary Stampeders on Saturday. \u201cIf you look at the history of the receivers who played there, there\u2019s a lot of great ones \u2014 like Davante Adams.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of guys over there. That\u2019s as simple as I can put it. And KeeSean has every record over there, easily.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great player. I couldn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s ability to move the chains was also celebrated at Fresno State.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery third down was the KeeSean Show,\u201d Hughes recalled. \u201cEverybody in the stadium\u2014 everybody in the Mountain West Conference \u2014 knew where the ball was going, and it still got there.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery second-and-long or third-and-long, we all knew who the ball was going to. He still made every play every week.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Two of Johnson\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Once again, the Roughriders derived immense benefits from Johnson\u2019s ability to make clutch catches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a competitor,\u201d he stated. \u201cI don\u2019t like losing. It\u2019s a part of the game at times, but I try my best not to. That\u2019s just my competitive nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been like that since I was young. My dad instilled that in me. That\u2019s something I kind of took away for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also inherited a humble, polite, self-effacing nature.<\/p>\n
Whereas his virtual namesake \u2014 former NFL receiver Keyshawn Johnson \u2014 wrote a book titled \u201cJust Give Me the Damn Ball,\u2019\u2019 the Roughriders\u2019 No. 3 will never say anything as brash.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game of football is a team sport,\u201d said Johnson, who is from East Palo Alto, Calif. \u201cIt\u2019s not a one-man job. A lot of people rely on each other. That\u2019s something I always try to keep in the forefront.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll always be a team guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of that mindset was shaped by Johnson\u2019s older brother, Vince Miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned a lot from him,\u201d the 29-year-old son of Sean Johnson and Monique Burns said, \u201cand he learned a lot from my parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miles blazed the family\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was my first collegiate touchdown,\u201d Johnson said with a smile. \u201cHe won the game, but I won the one-on-one battle between me and my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seventeen more touchdowns followed at Fresno State, where Johnson set career marks in catches (275) and receiving yards (3,463).<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made it look easy all the time,\u201d Hughes reflected. \u201cIt was just effortless on third down. He\u2019d keep the sticks moving all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defensive backs are often displeased to see KeeSean Johnson. That means they have to cover him. Good luck…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-745330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}