MUSKEGON – Devon “Bo” Johnson loves to play football for the West Michigan Ironmen, and he hasn’t had his fill lately.

Like all of his teammates, the second-year offensive lineman has been itching to get back on the field for a game since March 9, when the team played its season-opener. Unfortunately the schedule had a nearly month-long gap between the Ironmen’s first and second games.

That was tolerable for Johnson, as long as he got his practice time.

But the Ironmen cancelled their practice last week due to several key players being unable to attend. That was a little too much for Johnson, who took to the team’s group chat to voice his displeasure.

“I was more than frustrated,” Johnson said. “Anything having to do with football, I want to be doing.”

That response was not surprising to Ironmen head coach Terry Mitchell, who loves Johnson’s passion for the game.

“I know he was frustrated, because he’s a competitor,” Mitchell said. “He loves to get out there and compete, and he’s going to give you 110 percent every time he steps on the field.”

Johnson and his teammates will finally get the chance to knock off their cobwebs on Saturday night, when the Ironmen host the Toledo Shamrocks at 7:15 p.m. Muskegon’s Trinity Health Arena.

Coach Mitchell will be counting on the O-line, featuring the 6-foot-7, 330-pound Johnson, to continue its dominating play this weekend.

Just how dominant was the line in the season-opener against the Tri-State Bucks?

There aren’t a lot of statistics you can use to measure the effectiveness of offensive linemen, so you have to look at the scoreboard.

The Ironmen posted a resounding 82-6 victory. The score would have been even more one-sided if it hadn’t been for a running clock in the second half.

Ironmen quarterback Alex Carder had a huge game through the air, completing six touchdown passes.

That means Johnson and his fellow linemen had a great game, giving Carder all the time he needed to throw and slice up the Tri-State defense.

“He went untouched,” Johnson said about Carder. “I was really happy with the way we performed. We had at least seven pancakes apiece.”

An interesting football career

Johnson, 28, a native of Aurora, Illinois, has had an interesting football career.

He played at Waubonsie Valley High School in Illinois, but almost unbelievably started in just one varsity game throughout his career. He said he worked hard in high school, and never left the team, but was held back from winning a starting job due to “politics.”

“There wasn’t really much I could do about it,” Johnson said.

In the meantime, he attended summer football camps at various colleges and immediately drew interest for his size and obvious talent.

One of those camps was at Ferris State University, where he got to know Rob Zeitman, the offensive line coach. When he graduated from high school he chose Ferris State, playing for Zeitman and longtime head coach Tony Annese.

“I went to the Frrris camp in 2013, I was already 6-foot-7, I pancaked everyone at the camp, and by the end I was talking to Coach Annese and Coach Zeitman.” Johnson said.

Johnson went on to set a new record at Ferris with 51 consecutive starts. He was the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year as a senior and was a three-time All-Conference pick.

He was also named an All-American in his senior season.

Johnson’s college success led to an appearance at the NFL scouting combine in 2019, followed by a training camp tryout with the Atlanta Falcons.

After being but by the Falcons, he ended up with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League, spending one season on the practice squad.

Johnson’s life took a different turn during COVID, because it was difficult to return to Canada during the pandemic. So he spent a season as an assistant O-Line coach at Ferris State and  re-connected with Coach Zeitman, who by then was the head varsity football coach at Jenison High School.

He joined Zeitman’s staff at Jenison in the fall of 2022 and took a job with the school district as a behavioral specialist.

It just so happens that Zeitman also coaches offensive linemen for the Ironmen in the spring, so Johnson jumped at the opportunity to continue playing, albeit in a different type of football, while still pursuing his new career at Jenison.

“I could coach and still play ball, which was a dream come true,” Johnson said.

“I try to dominate on every play’

Johnson brought his huge frame to the Ironmen’s offensive line last season and immediately made an impact.

He and fellow starters Anthony Younger and Doug Woods clicked right away, helping the Ironmen post an undefeated record and win the Great Lakes Arena Football league championship in 2023.

Johnson said playing beside Younger and Woods has been a great experience from the beginning.

“Since the first day of practice together, I thought we blended really well,” he said. “I feel like I have been playing with them my whole life. It’s really easy. There are no egos in the room. We all want to get better.”

Coach Mitchell said Johnson’s size, combined with his very aggressive style of play, is a huge plus for the Ironmen.

“He’s a massive human being, but he wears it well,” the coach said. “He is just dominating. It’s hard to get past him.”

In the season opener last month, a referee complained to Mitchell after Johnson pancaked an opponent. In non-football terms, that simply means he flattened him.

“The ref told me to have him chill out,” Mitchell said. “I told him, that’s what he’s supposed to do. He was blocking all the way to the whistle. He was doing his job.”

“That’s what they ask us to do – dominate – and I try to dominate on every play,” Johnson added.

Johnson said he works hard to manage his large frame, to make sure it remains an asset rather than a liability for his entire football career.

He said he started growing quite early – he was 6-foot-4 by the eighth grade – and it takes effort to keep his weight in a range that still allows maximum mobility.

“Ini my first year of college I weighed 280 and they asked me to get to 300,” Johnson said. “But I got to 360. That was too big and I had to battle to lose weight.

“I run like two miles a day, I walk two or three miles a day at work. I do anything I can to stay in shape. I could easily slip in to being overweight and not be able to play.”