Gold Jacket Spotlight: Calvin Johnson collected nicknames, accolades

From the time CALVIN JOHNSON began playing high school football through his NFL career, teammates bestowed nicknames on the Tyone, Ga., native. 

Butterfingers.

Neo.

Megatron.

Calvin’s collection of nicknames and their origins is the subject of this week’s Gold Jacket Spotlight.

Calvin’s favorite sport as a youngster was baseball, and Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. was his favorite player. 

“I just really tried to slug home runs,” Calvin, in an episode of “A Football Life,” told NFL Films. “That’s all I could think about.”

After experiencing a growth spurt, Calvin began playing high school football at Sandy Creek High School and as a sophomore received varsity playing time. Unfortunately for Calvin, his baseball hand-eye coordination didn’t immediately translate on the football field and, by his own admission, he “dropped two or three balls a game.”

Those frequent drops earned him the nickname “Butterfingers” by his Sandy Creek teammates.

“That hurt. It stung,” Calvin told NFL Films. “I would get it from all the guys. They would take jabs. I was like, ‘OK, I have to earn the right to get rid of that nickname.’ ”

After compiling 29 touchdowns and averaging 21 yards per catch during his three varsity seasons for the Patriots, Calvin shed the nickname and started collecting collegiate scholarship offers.

His family’s focus on education resulted in Calvin enrolling at Georgia Tech. He became the Yellow Jackets’ top receiver almost immediately.

In his second collegiate game, an away ACC contest against Clemson, Calvin established his dominance.

“He was a freshman; we were still getting acquainted,” recalled Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball. “You’re just looking for a guy to go out there, run his routes, get his correct depth. I’m looking for him to do those little things right, let alone be my primary target.”

Calvin did the little things right — and the big things — as he collected three Ball passes for touchdowns in the Yellow Jackets’ 28-24 victory over the Tigers that day.

Calvin’s Georgia Tech teammates bequeathed the name “Neo,” from the movie “The Matrix.” Neo, according to “A Football Life,” is the “one who was to lead the humans to freedom over the machines. In order for Neo to be the one, he first has to believe in himself.”

Not only was Calvin building his confidence and dedicating himself to continual improvement, his teammates’ sureness in his abilities also grew.

Before he departed Atlanta for the NFL Draft, Calvin amassed 28 receiving touchdowns and 2,927 receiving yards in 38 collegiate games.

At the 2007 NFL Draft, Calvin was selected by the Detroit Lions with the second overall pick.

Reflecting upon the draft, former Detroit wide receiver coach Shawn Johnson opined, “I hope this kid knows what he’s getting into. He has the whole city of Detroit on his shoulders.”

Calvin’s work ethic won the affection of the fans in the blue collar Michigan city — and of his Detroit teammates.

“Calvin Johnson was a Hall of Fame talent, and he had the work ethic of an undrafted player,” Lions teammate Dan Orlovsky told NFL Films while recalling Calvin’s arrival.

During his rookie season, teammate Roy Williams began referring to Calvin as “Megatron.”

“At first,” Calvin said when discussing his perspective of the nickname, “I was tripping because I was thinking Megatron was Optimus Prime. I got it all backwards. When I came to grasp he’s the bad guy, I thought, ‘OK, that works. I can be the bad guy to the defense all day.’ ”

Megatron routinely caused bad things to happen to opposing defenses. Throughout his nine NFL seasons career, he tallied 83 receiving touchdowns, 11,619 receiving yards, led the league in receiving yards in 2011-2012 and was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 2010s.

In 2021, Calvin received his final football related moniker, one that will guarantee his legacy is guarded forever: Pro Football Hall of Famer.