The football lives of Belton and Marcus Johnson shaped by their mom’s work ethic

• “She would come home tired, get a little rest, get up and go back to work. We recognized that and saw that.”

Behind many successful football stories there’s a mother pushing sons to do the right things.

For the Johnsons, Belton and Marcus, Glenda Smith is that mom.

Even if for a time her eyes were closed.

It wasn’t necessarily that Smith was concerned for her boys’ well-being. That was part of it. The other part was Smith’s pragmatism.

“When we started playing football she didn’t want any part of it. She just saw football as injuries and things, right? She didn’t want to be missing work to tend to us if we were going to be getting hurt.”

Turns out the Johnsons, offensive linemen from Coffeeville first and Ole Miss later, were more than capable of holding their own, perhaps even dispensing some injuries rather than receiving them, once the bodies started flying.

A single mom needed to make sure she had steady income.

Glenda, who would later open a restaurant in Coffeeville, gave in, but she put football in a box over in a corner of her sons’ lives that she let them handle. 

When the Friday night lights burned bright, she was someplace else.

“It was some of the town folks, friends the hairdressers and everything, they were like, ‘Girl, have you seen them boys play? They’re looking real good,’” Belton Johnson said.

College scouts agreed.

Two brothers, two football lives

After Glenda’s awakening, the football lives took off for Belton and Marcus. Among the many benefactors have been Ohio State University and the Canadian Football League.

Belton Johnson played in the NFL for two seasons before a quad injury helped cut short his time in Cincinnati, where he had signed as a free agent in 2003.

He played for four different CFL teams until 2012 including four with Saskatchewan where he now lives with his wife and children and works as an insurance executive. He also does some broadcast work with the local team. The Rough Riders went through a stretch of interesting Mississippi connections that included Eric Tillman, an Ole Miss graduate, in the front office and Kent Austin, a former Ole Miss quarterback and later assistant coach, as a starter quarterback and head coach.

Belton Johnson was a starting lineman and Austin the head coach when Saskatchewan won the CFL’s Super Bowl, the Grey Cup, in 2007.

Marcus Johnson was a second-ground pick of the Vikings in 2005. He played with Minnesota for four seasons, then a year with Tampa Bay.

Eventually Marcus Johnson’s path led to coaching. He rejoined former Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe at Duke. He spent two years at Mississippi State including the 2019 season when the Bulldogs defeated his alma mater by a missed extra point after Elijah Moore’s peaceful, yet insulting demonstration led to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Johnson has since coached offensive line at Missouri and Purdue. 

Collectively, he’s gained enough experience that a move to an analyst position could look curious.

But in an off-season where Ryan Walters and his Purdue staff were let go, and coaching movement elsewhere was minimal, Marcus Johnson sees landing with the national champions as a great place for a fresh start.

In addition to fewer jobs, Johnson also didn’t like the idea of trying to land a new job then telling a new head coach he had to miss some time in February for a surgical procedure.

There were a lot of things that made sense about Ohio State.

“To be honest with you, I felt like Ohio State was the best opportunity for me to continue to learn and grow, just the type of program that it is, the type of people who have come out of Ohio State.”

The Buckeyes’ new offensive line coach, Tyler Bowen, was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Virginia Tech from 2022-2024. He was hired in February.

“He hadn’t coached offensive line in a few years. He wanted me to help out with my expertise, and it just kind of went from there. I’ve never really gotten into titles, man. All I know is I’m an O-line coach.”

Staying in touch

Glenda Smith’s boys remain close.

Marcus credits Belton for getting him solid football footing. The older brother was often a calming influence, a voice of reason for the younger.

“He saw some things at Ole Miss before I got there and kind of navigated me through the process. I was always kind of the knucklehead growing up. I never had it easy, but he had a little bit harder. He was a walk-on that got a scholarship, he was a free agent versus I was a second-round guy.”

Marcus Johnson, big and strong naturally, also had the advantage of weight-training at Coffeeville that wasn’t there when Belton went through. When Belton arrived at Ole Miss he struggled to bench press 135 pounds.

But he found his way.

He managed the expectations of the college game, especially the academic side and rode his younger brother hard about the necessity of good grades.

“I would preach to him about everything. I told him Coach Cut didn’t play around. That was when the tide turned for Marcus, when he was more focused on his grades.”

“I’ve always watched him along the way and admired his work ethic. I like to think that’s where my faith came from, between him and my mom,” Marcus Johnson said.

Belton’s role as big brother was a mission of love and responsibility that drove him even after the two of them left Ole Miss.

Belton’s initial CFL experience had him on the northern neighbor’s west coast with the British Columbia Lions.

“I held my own. I was playing good and everything, but I got depressed because I’m so used to talking to my brother and my mom pretty much on a daily basis. Then, after a game when I wanted to call my brother or mom, they were asleep, and when they wanted to call me in the morning, I was out at practice,” he said.

Belton asked to be released and was back in Mississippi for a bit when his agent called with a better time zone — Winnipeg.

It worked well with Marcus, at the time, just a few hundred miles south in Minnesota.

Mom’s work ethic

Glenda doesn’t have to worry about her boys getting hurt now. Playing days are in the rear view mirror for both.

The memories, though, will always be fresh because Glenda finally gave in and gave them the green light.

“The work ethic, honestly, I think it’s our mom’s, those 12-hour shifts she worked at the paper mill and everything. She would come home tired, get a little rest, get up and go back to work. We recognized that and saw that.”