Loren Johnson has heard it all when it comes to his former player, Mekhi Becton.
He’s a massive man. A bruising blocker. A force to be reckoned with. But Johnson also wants people to know that is a “gentle giant.”
Johnson coached Becton at Highland Springs High School, roughly 8 miles east of Richmond, Virginia, and less than miles south of Jets general manager Joe Douglas’ high school alma mater, Lee-Davis. Johnson remembers Becton as one of the most animated players he’s coached – someone who walked into high school thinking he’d play wide receiver on the gridiron and point guard on the court.
In an exclusive interview with JetsWire, Johnson recounted stories from Becton’s high school days while sharing his perspective on who Becton is as a person and what he’ll bring to the Jets as their 2020 first-round pick.
The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Jets Wire: Congrats on Mekhi’s selection! You spoke a lot with Joe Douglas about Mekhi prior to the draft. What were those conversations like?
Loren Johnson: He was just confirming with me about the kid’s character. I guess because the flag came up at the combine. You know, [Douglas was] just trying to put — kind of dot all his i’s and cross all t’s — just what type of kid he was and just his character. So the whole Mekhi situation, I think he would just try to confirm, you know, what he had heard or what he’d seen and what people have talked about, just about him character-wise. And that’s easy for me to do when it comes to my kids and playing ball.
JW: What is it like when an NFL team’s general manager or security team gives you a call and asks you about one of your former players?
Johnson: When they call me, I just talk to them and I just try to tell the truth. As much detail as I possibly can about the kid and what I know, and the things that they’ve accomplished while they’ve been in school.
So they ask about character. They ask about family life. They ask about girlfriends. They ask about hobbies. They ask about a ton of things. The list goes on and on and on about the personal aspects of what they did when they were in high school and what I thought about their progression as a player.
JW: What was Mekhi like throughout his time in high school? What kind of personality did he have on and off the field?
LJ: He was a smart individual. He understood everything that was going on. He was a gentle giant off the field. You know what I mean? And on the field, he was kind of the same way until the play was called, and it was time to just make things happen.
JW: What was he like when you first met him? Was he always this big?
Johnson: He wasn’t necessarily this big. He was about 6-foot-3, 220 as an eighth-grader, that’s when I first met him. And the thing was he [thought he] was gonna play tight end and wide receiver. And it was almost comical. He didn’t want to limit himself to just being an offensive lineman.
He’s the guy — when we played pick-up basketball in the school — he’s the guy wanting to play point guard. He’s the guy asking for the ball on the inbound pass. He’s the guy that’s dribbling and trying to make fancy passes.
He really thinks he’s Magic Johnson. Or LeBron James. So he was always a fun-loving guy in that regard. So when I met him, man– good kid, great parents, head on his shoulders the right way and could articulate what he wanted and what he wanted to do, and wasn’t ever bashful about saying, “Hey, run the ball behind me.”
JW: At what point did you see the potential for him to play for a top Division I football program and maybe make it to the NFL?
Johnson: When he came to us in between his freshman and sophomore year, that summer, it was almost like he was growing an inch per day. And it was like, “Man, Mekhi, you are getting bigger and bigger and bigger.” So I always knew that he would play big-time college football because you can’t stretch guys. You can get them stronger. You can get them faster. You can get them more flexible. But you can’t stretch them. So for him, he was stretching himself. He was growing out of clothes. His pants were too short. His shorts were too short.
When he got that scholarship offer from Delaware State, we were transitioning into his junior year. And it was our morning workouts, and he was just doing some phenomenal movement. I mean, he just looked great. You could tell the basketball had been helping him. And he was starting to grow into his body and understand his body.
And then in doing so, the combination of the two — the body from him, the athletic understanding of the body, the mental aspect of his growth — at that point in time I just said, “Man, this kid could be a first-round draft pick.” And I actually pulled out my phone during that morning workout and showed him what left tackles make in the NFL if they’re a first-round draft pick. And from that point forward, it took off and it started running. And he just became the guy that we see today.
We’ve seen him since he was 13 years old. And of course, his parents have seen him forever. For him to be a premature baby — nobody would think a preemie would be 6-foot-7, 350 pounds.
JW: Just to clarify, Mekhi was born prematurely?
Johnson: Yeah. He was born five pounds and a couple of ounces, maybe one ounce– a month premature I think.
JW: One of the most interesting aspects of Mekhi’s game is the fact that he is so fast on his feet despite his frame. Where do you think that ability came from? A lot of people were surprised by it. Was that something that he built up in high school?
Johnson: Oh, absolutely. So of course, number one first and foremost: the basketball aspect of it. He was playing AAU basketball on a highly touted team with some great guys that played in Richmond and have traveled all over. And then, of course, it’s the hanging around the program and constantly doing something. So he went from football season to basketball season to compete with everybody in the neighborhood.
JW: What is your favorite Mekhi Becton story from your time coaching him? Whether it’s something that happened on the field or in the locker room, weight room, whatever the case may be, what’s your favorite story that makes you smile every time you think about it?
Johnson: We were in the regional championship and we were playing a team that we hadn’t beaten in a while — [Lloyd C. Bird High School]. The score was 20-14. That team was up. And Mekhi came to me on the sideline. He put his big paw on my shoulder. And I’m the guy that calls plays. And he said, “Coach, just run the ball behind me the rest of the night. I promise you, we’ll win the game.”
And I looked at him, and I said, “All right — whatever, whatever.” I kind of brushed him off a little bit. He reached back out — I felt like I was 10 feet away from him. He reached back out, like with Go-Go Gadget arms. He grabbed me by my shirt and he said, “Run the ball behind me.”
Needless to say, we ran the ball behind him. The score was 34-20. After halftime, we came back, and we scored three unanswered touchdowns. And then we went on to win the state championship for the second year in a row. That was his senior year. But he was — that right there spoke to me about how he felt, his confidence, who he was as a person, him putting the team on his back and leading us.
He was determined not to let us lose that football game. And that doesn’t seem like the best moment for everybody. But for me, as a head football coach of a team trying to win a second title in a row, it spoke volumes about where we were going to go and how well our offense was gonna play the rest of the year.
[Highlights from that game below. Watch No. 70 for Becton’s blocking]
JW: Is there anything that Jets fans need to know about Mekhi that they can’t find on the internet?
Johnson: That’s tough, cause he’s an open book, man. I mean, his work ethic is pretty impeccable. But you can find that. I think Method Man sent him a shout-out last night. He’s a big hip-hop fan. So that’s one thing. But I think the biggest thing is, man, he will probably care more about the people in New York than most superstars will.
And I say that not knowing every superstar that’s been in New York. But he’ll invest a lot in that community. He will invest a lot into the growth of football there, the growth of the Jets organization, how they’ve been moving, the things that they’ve been doing. He’ll put a lot of emphasis into that stuff. And when he does, people will see the true Mekhi Becton and who he is as a person.
Photo courtesy of Loren Johnson