Despite playing his high school ball at nearby Bellevue West, Cade Johnson was never part of the Nebraska football team. Considering he’s listed only as 5-foot-10 on the Seattle Seahawks roster, it’s not a total surprise why the Huskers didn’t offer him.
In fact, Cade Johnson didn’t just not earn an offer from the Nebraska football team. He also didn’t get an offer from any FBS schools. The only high-level schools that did come calling were South Dakota and South Dakota State. Now the Seahawks receiver has a message for the next kid coming from his home state.
One day after the wide receiver caught three passes in the wild-card round against the San Francisco 49ers, Johnson took to Twitter with a bit of an inspirational message for all those kids hoping to be members of the Nebraska football team. And an inspirational message even if they can’t.
“This is for the undersized kid living in Nebraska,” the tweet began. “The one who was wrote off his whole life. If you have a dream to achieve, don’t quit or ever let anyone tell you who you can be. Sky is the limit if you believe in yourself and God-given abilities. Until next year SEA.”
This is for the undersized kid living in Nebraska, The one who was wrote off his whole life. If you have a dream to achieve, don’t quit or ever let anyone tell you who you can be. Sky is the limit if you believe in yourself and God given abilities. Until next year SEA. #GoHawks pic.twitter.com/Ki0hCNdRO0
— Cade Johnson (@cade_johnson) January 15, 2023
Johnson didn’t have a huge year for the Seahawks this year. But he did start getting more playing time as the year wound down. And he played in arguably the biggest games of Seattle’s season, as he had two catches for 21 yards in his team’s playoff-clinching win over the Los Angeles Rams. And then three catches in the playoff game.
His road to the NFL is an interesting one. After getting no big offers out of high school and going to South Dakota State, he was a standout. He had 72 catches for 1,222 yards and eight touchdowns. Once he did that, schools on the level of Nebraska football did come calling. Minnesota, Texas, Florida State, and Penn State pursued him the hardest, but he decided that he didn’t want to hurt any chance to get to the NFL.
So instead he sat out the COVID season and aimed for the pros. Then he got the call from Pete Caroll and the rest is history.
It’s pretty clear that Johnson wants to make sure that state of Nebraska football players understand that even if the Huskers don’t come calling, there’s a path to chase their dreams.