How Oregon Ducks Players Bo Nix, Tez Johnson Became Brothers: ‘Family’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Oregon Ducks quarterback Bo Nix and wide receiver Tez Johnson opened up about how football brought them together on the field and as family.
The two first met in high school, where Nix’s dad coached them.
“I didn’t really know Tez until the day I went out there and threw for the first time,” Nix told the Pac-12 Network. “The first person that comes running out on the field is this little bitty scrawny kid, probably one of the skinniest kids I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
“He has great ball skills. He runs great routes,” he continued. “I ask him, and this dude played QB the year before. He was on JV, ninth grade QB, he didn’t even play receiver. You realize, this kid is a great kid, has great heart, he just never had the opportunity to show it. He didn’t necessarily have a great situation.”
Johnson was “raised in the low-income housing projects of Birmingham, Alabama,” ESPN reported.
“It was a struggle coming up,” Johnson recalled. “We didn’t have beds at one point, didn’t know where the next meal was coming from. Growing up in a crazy environment, you just see violence every day. You see shootings every day. It was just so depressing as a little kid. I never went home and I was always in trouble.”
When he was 5, Johnson watched the Oregon Ducks play on TV and “fell in love.”
In high school, he and his coach, Patrick Nix, realized he had the potential to play football in college, but his mother, Shamika Johnson, “didn’t feel she could provide an environment to help him thrive.”
The Nix family offered to let Johnson stay with them for a little while.
“I pulled up to the house, walked in, and they were sitting at the dinner table,” Johnson said. “I knew right then and there that I didn’t wanna leave.”
What was supposed to be a short-term stay became permanent.
“He started living with us,” Nix remembered. “Then he became a brother, and then soon after that…he’s family.”
“[Tez] does not wear ‘Nix’ on the back of his jersey,” Nix’s mother, Krista, said. “But in our household and in our hearts, he is a Nix.”
Fast forward to college, the brother went their separate ways. But during Johnson’s senior year, he decided to transfer to Oregon.
“We lost a few key receivers and that was one area we wanted to grow in,” Nix told 247 Sports. “I had a past with Tez. I played with him in high school. I have a great relationship with him. We have a great connection. I know he’s a really good player. It kind of went from there. The coaches really liked him, and now he’s being a great help to our team.”
As hard as it was for Johnson’s mother to let her son live with another family, she knew it was best for him.
“It was honestly a blessing for me,” Shamika said. For him to be able to play for the only team he ever talked about.”
“My child has been able to live out a dream and a life I wasn’t able to provide to him,” she continued. “I think what I did for my child is I saved his life and I appreciate them [the Nix family] to the fullest. Because I feel like if he wasn’t with them, he probably wouldn’t have gone to Troy or Oregon.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Nix and Johnson:
Another blessing that’s come from Nix’s time with the Ducks is that he gets to play with his adopted brother, Tez Johnson.
Johnson is a wide receiver for the team and currently has 70 catches, 943 receiving yards, and nine touchdowns.
“It’s been almost like a movie,” Nix said of the opportunity to play with his brother. “You know, it’s something that I never really thought would come back around. You know, we played together in high school, and to have the opportunity to play again with him in college has been a dream come true.”
“And you know, his dream school was Oregon the whole time,” he continued. “So I feel like we’re living out both of our dreams at the same time and to be able to do it together it’s just nothing short of amazing.”
