Former Prep Teammates Hook Up In Texas Bowl

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

HOUSTON – No one could have guessed seven years ago, when they were hanging out as Cleveland Browns' ball boys and playing together on the freshman team at St. Edward High School, that Kyle Shurmur and Clay Johnston would square off in the Texas Bowl.

But, that's exactly where we are.

Shurmur is a four-year starter at quarterback for Vanderbilt, throwing for 8,579 career yards and a school-record 63 touchdowns, while Johnston is a second-team All-Big 12 pick at middle linebacker who leads Baylor's defense with 95 tackles.

In 2011, they were part of a talented freshman football team at St. Edward, an all-male Catholic high school in Lakewood, Ohio, that produced as many as a dozen Division I scholarship players. Shurmur was the offensive captain, Johnston the leader of the defense.

In Thursday's Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl matchup at NRG Stadium, they will be on opposing sides for the first time.

"That's crazy," Johnston said. "Kyle texted me and said, 'Who knew this day would come?' It is crazy. The Lord just delegated this to happen. I'm so excited, come Thursday, to look across that field. I'm sure he's going to give me that ol' wink, and I'm just going to start chuckling. Hopefully, I can get to him a couple times. That would be nice."

Kent Johnston, Clay's dad, was already the Browns' strength coach when Pat Shurmur replaced Eric Mangini as the head coach going into the 2011 season and kept Kent on staff. Pat is now in his first year as the New York Giants' head coach.

That same year, Clay and Kyle were joined at the hip as the Browns' ball boys and teammates at St. Edward.

"St. Edward was one of the two really well-known football schools there in the Cleveland area," said Kent Johnston, an NFL strength and conditioning coach for 24 years who now work with the Baylor football program as an injury prevention specialist. "Saint Ignatius was the other one. And it was odd, because the son of Randy Lerner, the Browns' owner, was the quarterback at Saint Ignatius. And all three of those guys knew each from being around the Browns."

Having worked with former Philadelphia Eagles and current Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, Pat Shurmer was "real big on family being around," Kent said. "So, it was a great experience for both of them."

In addition to being ball boys on the sidelines at Browns' games, though, Clay said they did the grunt work behind the scenes.

"We did all the laundry for the Browns' players back in the day," he said.

Even then, as 14-year-old high school freshmen, the talent was obvious.

"He was a stud," Clay said of Vanderbilt's senior quarterback. "He's got a lot of just football in his blood. He had that mindset in high school, too, that I'm going to go play in college. And if the Lord opens up that door, go play at the next level in the NFL. He's had great success and he's been a heck of a player at Vanderbilt."

Although his dad played at Michigan State and has coached in the NFL for the last 20 years, Kyle Shurmur says he "never really forced me to play."

"You'd think my dad would be very crazy about football and having me play football, but he was never like that," said Kyle, who played his final two prep seasons at La Salle College in Philadelphia, earning all-state honors in football and leading the swim team to a state championship as well.

"He always showed me the way if I wanted to learn the quarterback position and learn about offenses. But, he never really forced me to play. Football kind of ran our lives and we had to move around a bunch, but I had a great childhood and my parents have been amazing."

In the last 10 years alone, Pat Shurmur and his family have moved five times, with stops in St. Louis, Cleveland, Philly, Minnesota and now New York.

"We've moved together everywhere we've gone. We haven't separated from my dad," Kyle said. "Although it's tough to leave friends, I think our family has grown very close."

While their personalities on the field are basically the same, "Kyle was very serious, probably about everything," Kent Johnston said. "Clay was serious about football. But outside of that, he could be a goof ball. And it was interesting, because they were buddies despite their distinct differences in personality."

While agreeing with Kent's assessment, Kyle said it has something to do with the positions they play on the field.

"Playing linebacker, the screw's got to be loose a little bit to run around and bang your head against other people," he said of Clay, a two-year starter for the Bears who has amassed 175 career tackles, 18.5 stops behind the line, two sacks and four QB hurries. "As the quarterback, you have to be a little calmer, more poised."

Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason says Johnston, a 6-foot-1, 226-pound redshirt junior linebacker, "can key and diagnose, he's explosive to the football, plays extremely fast."

Watching his former teammate play now, Kyle said, "When you first see him, he doesn't look like the biggest guy. But, he hits hard and he's fast and he makes a lot of tackles. When you put on the tape, I don't have to say much, you can just go watch him. He's a great player. We're going to have our hands full."

Conversely, Johnston and the Baylor defense will have their hands full with Shurmur and the Commodores' offense.

"He is smart, intelligent," Baylor head coach Matt Rhule said of Shurmur. "They are going to be a huddle team, break the formation. That will be different for us. You need a quarterback to run that kind of offense, who can get you in and out of plays, and Kyle does it at a really high level."

Since Pat Shurmur still has a game left with the Giants, "I know he's probably not going to be here," Kent Johnston said, "but I know (my wife) Pam is looking forward to trying to find (Pat's wife) Jennifer if she comes. It's just so neat that these guys are playing against each other so many years later."

Thursday's game kicks off at 8 p.m., with ESPN's crew of Tom Hart and former Vandy quarterback Jordan Rodgers calling the action and former Auburn Tiger center Cole Cubelic reporting from the sidelines.

Former Prep Teammates Hook Up In Texas Bowl

Players Mentioned

Clay Johnston

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