Tez Johnson, inspired by family’s presence, makes history for Oregon Ducks in Big Ten championship

INDIANAPOLIS — Shamika Johnson’s voice trembled slightly as she walked in the frigid Indiana wind back to her hotel.

“I’m happy, and all kinds of emotions are going through me right now,” she told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “Just a proud parent. A proud mom.”

Johnson was at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night to watch her son Tez and the No. 1 Oregon Ducks beat Penn State for the Big Ten championship. Tez Johnson was named the game’s MVP with 11 receptions for a career-high 181 yards and a touchdown.

While Johnson is known for his connection to Bo Nix’s family — Nix’s parents Pat and Krista took him in during a rough time in high school — Saturday marked the first time Johnson’s biological family had seen him play in person.

A full game, anyway.

That included mother Shamika, stepfather John Posey, brother Keywone, sister Keynila, twin cousins Tywun and Tyron, uncle Deandre, and aunt Kimiko.

“I told them, this is the first game y’all coming to, I’ll give you all a show. I promise you that,” Tez Johnson said postgame. “For me, it was just, I don’t know if words can explain it, my mom, just seeing the tears in her eyes being able to watch me play on a stage like this.

“Just being able to get them to the game, words can’t explain. It’s something you dream about. And when that time happens and it’s being able to get checked off your bucket list, you don’t take it for granted.”

Saturday was not supposed to be Shamika Johnson’s first opportunity to watch her son star for the Ducks.

She made the trip from her home in Alabama to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to watch Oregon play in the Big House. But Johnson injured his shoulder on the Ducks’ second offensive snap. The injury happened in a flash.

“I couldn’t even tell you, I was just so upset,” Shamika Johnson said. “I didn’t even know he got hurt at first.”

But then a few weeks later came the call from Tez.

He had rehabbed intensely to get back on the field for Oregon’s regular-season finale against Washington, and caught three passes for 36 yards and a touchdown against the “hated” Huskies. He was back and ready to contend for a conference championship at Lucas Oil Stadium, and couldn’t imagine his family not being among the nearly 70,000 in the stands.

“He called me and asked me, ‘Mom, do you want to come to the Big Ten?’” Shamika Johnson said. “And I was more than proud to be here.”

Johnson was integral in keeping the offensive engine running on a night the Ducks needed to score points. His big plays fueled drives, evasive maneuvers through the Penn State secondary cut deep, and a 48-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter gave Oregon a 38-24 lead.

In the end, he and his teammates beat the Nittany Lions 45-37. They hoisted the Big Ten championship trophy, still undefeated at 13-0, swaggering into the College Football Playoff. And up on the podium, a humble smile from Johnson as he grasped the MVP trophy, his eyes darting up to the stands.

“I’m happy for him and the whole team,” Shamika Johnson said. “And I was really excited for him to make the MVP. That right there broke me down. But it has been so joyful. This is the happiest time of my life right now. ... He’s out there doing what he loves to do, and it makes me proud and feel like I did a good job.”

The journey for Johnson from rough times in his youth to the pinnacle of college football has been an inspirational story for the Ducks and their fans, but his mother believes it goes deeper than that.

“He knows what the meaning of life is now,” she said. “It’s not a game to him anymore. It’s real. The man he is now is what he had to become to get where he is today.”

-- Ryan Clarke covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten Conference. Listen to the Ducks Confidential podcast or subscribe to the Ducks Roundup newsletter.