Paris Johnson Jr.

Early life

Johnson was born on July 3, 2001, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended St. Xavier High School before transferring to Princeton High School as a senior in 2019, where he won the Anthony Muñoz Award. The top-ranked offensive tackle of the class of 2020, he chose to attend Ohio State University.

College career

Johnson played in five games as a freshman in 2020, including at offensive guard due to an injury in the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship, and started every game at right guard the following season. He moved to left tackle as a junior in 2022, where he was named a consensus All-American.

Personal life

Paris Johnson Jr. is the son of Paris Johnson, who was selected by the Cardinals in the fifth round of the 1999 NFL draft as a safety and spent one season with them before being released. He majored in journalism at Ohio State, writing several articles for their student newspaper The Lantern before graduating in December 2022. Johnson founded a charity foundation under his name in high school; it was awarded the 2022 Armed Forces Merit Award for their work in raising more than $10,000 to assist military veterans, student-athletes, and the homeless. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and some Portuguese, having studied the former since late childhood and the latter after gaining an interest in visiting Brazil.