Tony Johnson (born March 12, 1982) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

wide receiver. He played collegiately at Penn State from 2000 to 2003. Entering the 2008 season, he was ranked 10th all time in receptions for the

Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

with 107, and 9th in receiving yards with 1,702. Johnson was listed at 5'11, 209 lbs. and wore number 11. His older brother is former NFL running back Larry Johnson. Tony was also Larry's manager. Tony is the second of three children, born to Christine and Larry Johnson Sr. His father, Larry Johnson, Sr., is a former high school coach, and the current defensive line coach at The Ohio State University. Johnson attended

State College Area High School State College Area High School, often referred to locally as "State High," is a public high school in State College, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the only public high school in the State College Area School District and is within walking ...

State College, Pennsylvania State College is a home rule municipality in Centre County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is a college town, dominated economically, culturally and demographically by the presence of the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania Sta ...

, and was recruited by several college teams. Originally a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

in high school, he converted to wide receiver upon committing to the Nittany Lions. From 2001 to 2002, Johnson served as the Nittany Lions' second-choice receiver, playing alongside

Bryant Johnson Bryant Andrew Johnson (born March 7, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals 17th overall in the 2003 NFL Draft and also played for the San Fran ...

. In 2002, he had three receiving

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s, caught 34 passes, and gained 549 receiving yards. In 2003, when he was a senior at Penn State, Johnson was charged with

DUI Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

. He was suspended for two games by the team after this incident. Following his return, Johnson had three touchdowns in a game against

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. Tony married his wife, Karin Grapp-Johnson, in the summer of 2009. They have three children, two boys and a girl. He now resides in Ohio, where he remotely is able to fulfill his managing duties for older brother Larry Johnson. Tony travels often to attend and accompany Larry to Bengals home and away games.

References

1982 births Living people People from Charles County, Maryland African-American players of American football American football wide receivers Penn State Nittany Lions football players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people {{widereceiver-1980s-stub