By Brandy Thurston, Director of Sports Information
(Morrisville, NY) The New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) announced its football individual award winners recently, naming Morrisville State College junior quarterback, Lemar Johnson (Ossining, N.Y.) the 2013 NJAC Offensive Player of the Year.
Johnson, the first Mustang to earn NJAC Player of the Year accolades, was a dual threat on the field, leading the high powered offensive unit from under center. A unit that to date holds two top 10 national rankings: leading all of Division III in first down offense (286), and ninth overall in total offense (507.4 yards per game). Both categories, that finds the Mustangs sitting atop the NJAC leaderboard as well.
Johnson completed 212-of-364 passes for 2,510 yards and 23 passing touchdowns in 10 games for Morrisville State this season; adding 639 net yards on 132 rushing attempts for nine more scores.
His efforts on the field earned him NJAC Offensive Player of the Week accolades twice this season, as well as Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Corvias Southeast Division III Offensive Player of the Week honors those same weeks.
Johnson sits atop the NJAC in five different statistical categories and is second in four more, while ranking in the top 20 in all of Division III in three. His 132.1 passing efficiency is first in the conference, along with passing touchdowns (23), points responsible for (192), points responsible for per game (19.4), and total offense (314.9 yards per game). Johnson sits second in completions per game (21.2), completion percentage (.582), passing yards (2,510), and passing yards per game (251.0).
Nationally, he is as high as 16th in all of Division III in points responsible for, 19th in points responsible for per game, and is 17th overall in total offense.
The stellar year for the junior was nothing short of record breaking, as Johnson rewrote football history with a combined 15 new records. His return to college football this season found his name aside four new single game records, six new season records, and at the top of five new career records.
Johnson set new single game marks in pass attempts (52), completions (32), yards (455) all against William Paterson, and passing touchdowns (5) versus Cortland.
His passing yard total was a new season record, along with passing touchdowns, completions, passing yards per game (251.0), total offensive yards (3,149) and total offensive yards per game.
After totaling just 1,200 yards his sophomore season, Johnson climbed to the top of the career leader board in passing yards in 2013 (3,854), passing touchdowns (33), completions (330), total offense (5,268) and total offensive yards per game (188.1).
Also named to the all-conference first team offense, Johnson is a graduate of Ossining High and is majoring in liberal arts and sciences: humanities and social science at Morrisville State. He is the son of Esther Barrett of Ossining.