Former NFL wideout Stevie Johnson joins Sports Illustrated from Radio Row. Johnson expressed his admiration for Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Steve Smith who all inspired him when he played.
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00:00 Stevie Johnson, what's happening?
00:02 Man, it's good to be here. It's good to be chatting and officially connecting with you.
00:06 This is what it's about. This atmosphere provides opportunities for us to connect.
00:13 I'm appreciative of it.
00:15 Okay, so you're done playing. What you been up to, bro? Talk to the people. Tell them what you've been up to.
00:21 So now me and my wife, we run a mentorship. We call it Club HBHF. It stands for Handle Biz, Have Fun.
00:28 Our non-profit is Exposure Academy. What we do is we equip the student-athletes and entrepreneurs with life skills.
00:35 The things that I wanted to know or I needed to know on our journey to being in the league.
00:43 So I just try to equip them at an earlier age. Juco High School. We got middle school work and things like that.
00:49 So I just really dove into the community and tried to prepare them because everybody won't make it.
00:55 Everybody won't make it. It's real. Everybody won't make it.
00:58 But it's about more than sports, more than just being an athlete. You have to be a citizen.
01:03 You have to know how to cook for your kids or yourself at least.
01:06 Manage your money. You have to be comfortable walking into a bank.
01:09 So that's the things that I do now. We host mini symposiums.
01:14 So yeah, all around the world. That's what I do.
01:18 What is the biggest thing, what is the biggest area of concern do you see in the youth, in the communities that maybe is something that you seem to tackle the most?
01:30 So when something goes wrong, it's like a catch-22.
01:35 You know, when something goes wrong, you kind of want to pivot and go somewhere and do something else.
01:40 And I'm not knocking that at all. But you got to understand the situation that you're in.
01:45 You got to understand who you are. You got to understand your skill set.
01:48 Everybody can't just leave. Sometimes you might need to stay and work through that.
01:52 And you also have these times where guys like Michael Penix, he transferred, stuff wasn't right, and then he wins the national championship.
02:00 That's a great story, but everybody don't get that story.
02:03 So yeah, I at least want to equip guys with their own self-confidence to understand,
02:08 "Okay, maybe I'm not getting love from this coach because I did something wrong."
02:13 They're always so quick to point fingers. That's what I've noticed working with a lot of these young athletes.
02:18 Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the finances.
02:23 Yeah, finances.
02:24 You're out now. You're still balling. You're doing your thing. You're helping the community.
02:29 Yes.
02:30 What is some of the best financial advice that you ever got?
02:33 And what's some of the advice that you're giving those young guys to prepare themselves for whatever they decide to do in life?
02:38 Yeah, that's a great question. First, you got to know yourself.
02:41 When it comes down to finances, you got to know yourself.
02:44 I don't want to necessarily say be humble, but understand humility.
02:48 And that is not a negative thing.
02:51 Everybody don't have the $100 million.
02:54 You know what I'm saying?
02:55 Everybody can look like they have it, which is cool.
02:58 But then you got to know yourself. Are you hustling to get it?
03:02 Are you bootlegging to get it, which is cool?
03:05 Or are you wasting your money trying to go really be to get the real, real because I got to be.
03:12 I got to keep up with the Joneses.
03:13 Right, right.
03:14 And you'd be surprised, man.
03:16 It's a lot of...
03:17 So Robert Roy was one of the guys who I was with. He was a vet.
03:20 And he was like, "Hey, Stevie, as a rookie, don't worry about going to get the big diamonds and this and that.
03:26 You can go to..." He named a simple store and cop some earrings.
03:32 They go think it's something this and that.
03:34 They go think it's already, yeah, because that's who you are.
03:36 Yeah, that helped me a lot because I did assume, "Oh, man, I made it to the NFL now.
03:41 I need to go buy the real." You know what I mean?
03:44 And you got to be smart for the missus, for your wife and things like that.
03:48 Real.
03:49 Right, yeah, yeah. You got to take care of them, for sure.
03:51 Think about it. Do I really need... You know what I'm saying?
03:54 So you got to just know yourself, man, and understand.
03:58 It's going to be talk all the time.
04:00 Just know yourself, bro. Know yourself.
04:02 Have a vision for what you want and then work towards it.
04:05 Yeah. Okay, so we spent some time in Buffalo.
04:08 We spent some time in the Bay.
04:10 Obviously, the Niners are in the championship this week, the Super Bowl this week.
04:15 The Chiefs.
04:16 What's your predictions?
04:17 And I want to hear a legitimate answer because I feel like you're going to say the Niners because you was out there catching touchdowns for the Niners.
04:23 Give me your reasons to why they'll be victorious this week.
04:27 Man, so because I feel like the Niners are going to be victorious because they're going to make this crucial third down stop late in the game to stop a game-time field goal or something.
04:38 Maybe they'll go forward on fourth and we'll make a stop, though.
04:40 That's what I think is going to happen.
04:41 We'll be up and we're trying to stop Mahomes.
04:44 But I think it's going to be great because of Mahomes.
04:47 I mean, only greatness happens when he's stepping on the field.
04:51 So I think it's going to be a situation where, OK, here go Mahomes again.
04:55 Let's see what he do.
04:56 And I think we're going to just make the stop, though.
04:58 So that's how I feel like it's going to go.
05:00 I don't know.
05:02 OK, Stevie, so you were one of the receivers that everybody liked to watch because of your uniqueness at the time.
05:10 Uniqueness. Now I feel like more guys are doing it.
05:12 The Devontae's, the Keenan's and all those guys are doing the back.
05:15 I like to say the ISO release.
05:17 That's what I like to call them.
05:19 So who did you look up to when you were coming up?
05:22 Nice. Great question. So my guys I watched was Chad Ocho Cinco.
05:26 First and foremost, because he was different.
05:28 He was a technician type, but he was doing it different.
05:31 Yeah. And he was talking about he was.
05:34 So, yeah, he's having fun. He had a great balance.
05:36 So him, Tio was one of the first guys I've seen growing up in San Francisco, seeing him doing the bank head bounce after he scored.
05:43 And the best.
05:45 Deion Sanders is one of the guys that I've seen. I know he's a DB, but he played both ways and he was making plays every time he went in as a receiver.
05:54 So I'm like, this dude's a playmaker. Yeah. And then I also love watching Steve Smith just because the dog in him, you know, he wasn't he wasn't doing like space creator things.
06:06 But man, the attitude, the heart. I mean, just watching him and Ocho go at it back and forth that year with the celebration.
06:15 That was beautiful to me. I love it. OK, so obviously just swagged out.
06:20 How important was it for you? How important was it for you to get your fits off going into games?
06:27 And I know I'm pretty sure that still carry yourself into today.
06:30 But talk about it when when you play, how important was the fits getting them off, walking through the tunnel?
06:36 Social media wasn't the way it is now, but I know you were still getting them off.
06:39 I mean, I feel like I was comfortable in my style, but I wasn't really locked in or focused as they are now.
06:45 You know what I mean? Like I got to go get this piece and do it. I was like my my style was just my style.
06:50 Like I don't really look too much into it. You know?
06:56 Yeah, come on. Come on now. Yeah. Hey, that's shout out to the bay.
07:01 You know how we do it. I still got a five on now. Yeah. Yeah. So.
07:05 But yeah, man, like the style. I love how is I love how the game has evolved into that.
07:11 You know, like the NBA, they showing more of the characters, showing more of the creativity for these guys.
07:15 Yeah. And, you know, my style was on the field, you know, running routes how I did.
07:21 That's what I that's what I really took more pride in knowing that I was doing something different.
07:26 You know, I didn't know that it was going to be like game changing. Right.
07:30 But at the same time, I knew I was doing something different because like we spoke earlier.
07:35 I was like, how do you get by these these DBs or whatnot? I was just using basketball.
07:40 That's what I felt like I can beat anybody who was basketball.
07:43 So when I converted my game over into like a hybrid of basketball and football, I mean, it was just it was a wrap from there.
07:50 You know, it was a wrap, you know, and I'm glad to see what has evolved to now.
07:55 This guy, if when it comes to receivers, you think about Steph Curry, you think about the three point shot.
08:02 You think about Stevie Johnson, you think about routes coming off the line.
08:08 You can't touch me. And he's a big boy at the same time.
08:11 And I want to say thank you for coming by. Holler at me, man. Stevie Johnson.
08:15 Yes, sir. My dog. All love. Always, fam.
08:18 (whooshing)