What Beau Johnson Said About Transferring to Vanderbilt and the Type of Player He Is – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE – He is a man of few words, but could end up being one the more impactful transfers on this season’s Vanderbilt football team. 
Transferring from North Dakota State, offensive lineman Beau Johnson committed to play for head coach Clark Lea just after the calendar turned to 2026. It all started when Bryce Henderson – one of the leaders on Vanderbilt’s offensive line a year ago – reached out to Johnson and encouraged him to visit Vanderbilt.
Once he did, Johnson took a chance, visited Lea and the rest of the Vanderbilt coaching staff and was sold on becoming a Commodore not long after that.
“I just liked his tone I guess. He’s very soft-spoken. He’s really philosophical. He just convinced me. I just saw his vision and I just put my trust in the coaching staff here. It’s a really big part of why I chose here over everywhere else,” Johnson said on what it was about Lea that sold him on transferring.
Now that the Spring Lake, Minnesota native is in Nashville getting acclimated to the southeastern weather and to Lea’s system, it has been a bit of an adjustment to going up against his new teammates in practice.
As Johnson acknowledged, there is a difference between the guys that he went up against in the FCS as a member of the Bison compared to the SEC players he has seen in practice.
“Everyone’s bigger here for sure. North Dakota State, they got some guys there, but the SEC is just a whole different level. Power four program,” Johnson said. “So I’d just say the size of the guys, the speed of the skill positions, all that stuff.”
So, what kind of player is Vanderbilt getting with Johnson on the offensive line? As he walked reporters through his process of how he plays the position under Vanderbilt’s system, Johnson is a guy that is versatile on the offensive line, that can play on either the left or the right side.
He talked about watching Vanderbilt film when it was one of the schools he was narrowed down to. In that personal film study, he looked at how the aforementioned Henderson played both sides of the offensive line for the Commodores a season ago and how he has since adjusted to applying the film he watched on Henderson to his own game in practice.
“I remember when I was nailing down my schools, I remember watching the film of Vanderbilt on my own. I just kept seeing Bryce Henderson. I was like ‘Okay he’s the right tackle here, but then he switches over.’ So I was a little confused, but now that I’m here I kind of get why. It’s not a huge adjustment for me. I play both sides pretty well and it’s just a part of my game,” Johnson said.
Whether it is on the field and off the field, though, what the coaching staff sees out of Johnson is a guy that is about the right stuff. Someone that shows up, puts his head down and goes to work each and every day. That is something that offensive line coach Chris Klenakis raves about when talking about Johnson.
“What I like about him is his steady demeanor. He’s a worker, he’s not a talker, he’s not flashy. He’s blue collar, he goes to work and he’s steady,” Klenakis said. “The best thing to say is he’s steady, very consistent and he does his job.”
For a player to hear that type of praise from a coach he works with every single day is something Johnson can certainly appreciate. It is high praise, but it also feels like a good representation of him.
And it is that type of personality and work ethic that Johnson prides himself on as a person and as a player. 
“I feel like that’s a good way to describe me. I just put my head down and keep working. That’s how I roll, that’s how I grind. It’s how I do my business,” Johnson said.
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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