WKU Basketball: If Justin Johnson Can’t Find A Home In Pro Ball, He Should Give Aussie Football A…

Yes, you read this headline correctly.

Yes, you read this headline correctly.

If you’ve ever wondered to yourself “Hey, that Fletcher kid who runs his *cough cough third cough cough* WKU blog…I wonder what his life outside of writing about the Hilltoppers looks like?” Well, over the last few weeks, it’s looked like this; watching a lot of Australian Rules Football.

It’s, I’m pretty sure, the best game. And, there’s something for everyone — the game is known for having the most amount of stats, so if you’re a numbers head, this is your game. It’s (obviously) very physical, so if you’re into that, it’s for you. It’s American football-esque in terms of barbaric brute strength meets chess, so if you’re into everything, it’s the sport for you.

But, one of the things I didn’t know until recently is that there are only two Americans’ in the league, ever: Jason Holmes, who who played with St. Kilda for five games from 2014–2017 and the current Collingwood Magpie Mason Cox.

What connects these two, aside from their American heritage? They’re both former basketball players. Holmes played two years at Mississippi Valley State and one year at Morehead State, averaging a total of 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds as a 6'9" (nice), 225 pound forward.

Cox was even less productive in his career at Oklahoma State, playing in just 24 games in three years (but, he was with the program originally to be a scout member, so we’ll let that slide) as a 6'10", 230 pound forward.

Justin Johnson is no stranger to contact; for a while, it looked like he was going to take the George Fant rout to professional sports by trying his hand on the gridiron, but that changed around the time Mitchell Robinson announced his first departure from the program (who knows if that actually was the reason why he came back, though).

And, if history with Holmes and Cox is any indication, JJ might just be the type of player who suits the AFL game well. Both Holmes and Cox were “ruckman”, a type of “follower,” on the field (according to Wikipedia: They are known as followers because they have traditionally been used as players that follow the ball all around the ground as opposed to playing in a set position). I’m not sure if JJ would fall under that route (he’s not who I want to be at midfield at the beginning of each quarter and after each goal for the jump), but otherwise, I think his skills would translate well.

It isn’t that he has no height, and is taller than the average AFLer (JJ comes in at 6'7", the average AFL player is around 6'2" or 6'”3) and I bet you he could rough up a lad or two. The only question mark that we really can’t answer is is speed/endurance — AFL players run about a marathon a game, and I’m not saying JJ can’t get in that kind of shape, just that he hasn’t had to for basketball.

Oh, also the kicking thing. I’m not certain of his soccer background, but he’s gonna have to learn how to handle the footy. But I believe in him.