Former Penn State WR Juwan Johnson enjoys big NFL season debut

ALTOONA, Pa. -- What can you say? The guy just catches everything. While Penn State fans would not have felt that way about wide receiver Juwan Johnson during his time with the Nittany Lions, most probably are happy for a guy who did indeed live up to his potential after he left Happy Valley and has turned himself into an NFL player.

Johnson, who had lots of problems with drops at Penn State before transferring and finishing his college career at Oregon, is in his second season as a tight end for the New Orleans Saints. And he enjoyed a big season debut Sunday.

Johnson caught two touchdown passes from Jameis Winston in the Saints' 38-3 thrashing of the Green Bay Packers. They weren't just easy catches, either, as you can see below.

Here's the first one:

Johnson is 6-foot-4 and went up high for that grab in the back of the end zone. He then used his height, adjusted to the ball and made an even better catch later in the game.

Johnson finished with three catches in as many targets for 21 yards and the two scores. He had about as good of an opening weekend as any Penn State product, save for perhaps Chris Godwin, who caught nine passes for 105 yards and the first TD of the NFL season in Tampa Bay's win over Dallas on Thursday.

"He trusted me," Johnson said of Winston throwing him the ball. "It was stuff we worked on pretty much all summer. Me going to Tampa, going to his crib and having those times where were like, we've got to get this down, we've got to do this.

"During the whole training camp they had a lot of trust in me from the very beginning, knowing that they could move me to tight end," Johnson noted.

"Them just having that confidence in me from the very beginning was something I just took and ran and took my training to a whole other level. I just had to put the pedal to the medal, and people are starting to see it now."

Most Penn State fans know Johnson's story. He was a very gifted receiver who had issues dropping the ball during his time at PSU from 2016-18. He did catch 81 passes for 1,123 yards and two TDs in his three seasons, including 54 for 701 yards and one score in 2017.

Johnson transferred to Oregon and played eight games for the Ducks in 2019, catching 30 passes for 467 yards and four TDs. He went undrafted but signed with the Saints, then was cut late in camp last year. He was signed to the practice squad and impressed the team enough to be activated for four games, catching four passes for 39 yards.

Here's what Winston had to say about Johnson after Sunday's game:

 "I was excited, man. I told him that was from countless hours of working together in the offseason and building a rapport. He showed up today. I told him before the game, 'When you're in the game, I'm going to be throwing you the ball.'

"I think he did a good job of going up and making some big catches for us. "

Check out Johnson's postgame press conference here.