Freshman catcher Cooper Johnson sat in his locker at Swayze Field Friday and paused for a second to reflect on his journey to Ole Miss at this point.
“I was just thinking, it’s been since my sophomore year (of high school) that I’ve been waiting for this opening day,” Johnson said. “I committed, then I signed my letter of intent, then I ended up coming on campus. When you look back, it doesn’t feel like a long time, but if you look at it day-by-day, it seems like a long time, but it has flown by. I am so ready. It’s two weeks away, and I’m jumping out of my pants.”
Johnson was one of the lynchpins of a historic recruiting class head coach Mike Bianco reeled in 2016 with the standard 11.5 scholarships and not lottery program, making it all the more remarkable. The class came in with a lot of buzz and many lofty expectations.
“Coach B is really great about telling us to live in the moment. Live today. Don’t think about Feb. 17,” Johnson said. “Think about today and what is at hand. Be in your shoes right now. When we came in, we all knew it was going to be a really good class. But once we stepped on the field and saw everyone actually perform, everyone’s eyes kind of widened a bit, and we thought, ‘We’ve got a special team.'”
Even Johnson was surprised that each piece of this prized class showed up to campus, electing not to turn pro. They all had a group message together in high school, keeping in touch and discussing the future. But as the draft got closer, the chatter faded.
“Completely surprised, man,” Johnson said. “Looking at it, we were always in contact. We had a GroupMe, which is an app where you can put a bunch of guys into a group chat, and we’d type into that when we could, catching up on each other. But once it came closer to that draft period time, things kind of got a little more silent because everyone was working out. We weren’t all really sure who was coming, who was going, and there was about four or five guys where I was thinking, ‘I don’t really know if they are going to show up on campus.’ I think it was definitely a question for a number of guys, but we are blessed to have them all down, because it makes our team that much better.”
For Johnson, it was relief more than anything when he got to campus. He no longer had the talk of money, agents, draft stock and so many other things that come with professional baseball cluttering his 18-year-old mind. It was a process that grew tiring.
“It humbles you,” he said. “There are a lot of really talented players that are better than myself, players better than everyone out here. It’s definitely a humbling experience. It’s taxing. It’s tiring, and it’s even annoying at some points, but it’s just the way it goes.”
Now that he’s on campus and preparing for his first full college season–one in which he will be the starting catcher for the Rebels–the only thing on his mind is the simple game he’s been playing since he could walk.
“I’m so glad to be over with that. For so long in high school, I had to go out and travel here and there and play for myself because you’re showcasing your skills,” Johnson said. “It’s a beautiful thing that I’m a part of now, with all these 35 other guys, that I’m on a team. I get to play with a team. I’m not playing for myself.”
With the grind that is preparing for the MLB draft in the distance, Johnson was able to relax this fall while adjusting to the college game.
“The fall was the most fun I’ve had playing baseball in so long because I got to play with a bunch of other teammates and be around a bunch of great guys. I wasn’t pressing to hit–I was just going out and enjoying myself every day I came to the ballpark and having fun.”
Johnson and freshman shortstop Grae Kessinger are two guys from this class who Bianco has confirmed will start opening day, and there will likely be a couple more.
“If we didn’t think they could handle it, we wouldn’t put them there. There’s enough depth and enough talent on the field that they’ve earned that right,” Bianco said.
But catcher in particular is a position of great pressure on this team. Ole Miss has a history of good catchers. In fact, three coaches on its staff are former catchers, including Bianco. With so many great players who have played this position before him, Johnson understands the pressure but also embraces it.
“It’s a grind,” he said. “Our coaches are on us constantly in the pen. They expect us to do just as much work as the pitchers are doing, because when you’re catching those pens and your pitcher knows that you’re working for him, he has more confidence in that 0-2 curveball that he needs to spot up.”
