Clinton High football defensive lineman RJ Johnson will bring his talents to the task of shoring up the Erskine Flying Fleet’s defensive line in the 2026 season.
Johnson made his commitment last Wednesday, before his Red Devil teammates, family and friends in the CHS main gym. About heading to the Due West college that has re-established football, Johnson said, “I like how they have set up the freshman class. A lot of people I know are going there. It’s the best opportunity for me.”
RJ expects to compete for playing time at defensive end and defensive tackle, and will study to become an engineer. He said “fixing things” runs in the family.
Part of a State Championship team at Clinton, Johnson said the Red Devil coaches challenged him and his teammates to decide, “if you want it or not, it’s a mindset that you’ve got to have day in and day out.”
Erskine College plays its home football games at Dixie High School, as it develops football facilities. The Flying Fleet are 3 seasons into the tenure of Shap Boyd as head coach; he graduated from and played football at the University of the South.
“His whole time here at the high school, (RJ) was working and working and working. He was working, but it didn’t always translate into him starting on the field, which is really frustrating to people. He wanted to know ‘what do I need to do’. He kept working to make himself better, doing extra work, and it all paid off, because this year he was starting. He had a great season for us, he did everything we asked him to do, and colleges took notice,” Clinton Football Head Coach Corey Fountain said.
“But even if they (college coaches) didn’t notice, you guys need to emulate what he did. On X any time he got to link, to post his stuff to another coach, he did it; and guess what I do, I repost that and somebody else reposts that. He helped his own recruiting. That all gets seen. That is something you guys need to emulate. You market yourself, and he did that. I’m super proud of RJ. I know he’s going to do awesome things at Erskine, and I look forward to seeing him play and what the future holds for him.”
Johnson joins a Fleet team that was 1-10 this past season. But he said one of his future teammates told him, “I see something in this team.”
The Flying Fleet lost in the 2025 season’s second game to, eventual, 10-2 Presbyterian, 42-14, playing in Clinton, and lost their season finale, 42-24, to Allen playing at Westwood High School. The Fleet outgained Allen in that contest, 387-327, but lost 5 turnovers. This past season, Erskine got its first conference win, 23-19, over Shorter playing in Rome, Ga.; and had two close losses — by 4 to Chowan and by 2 to Ferrum.
