A 350-Pound Quarterback? Joshua 'Bubba' Johnson Is That and Much More

GARY, Indiana — A few hundred yards from a pawn shop, on a cold, wet, Friday October night at Calumet New Tech High School, a 17-year-old, 350-pound quarterback is once again doing things people his size are rarely asked to do. Yet so far, no college football program has been intrigued enough to return his emails, let alone offer him a scholarship. But the hope, whether it's well-founded or not, is that an offer is coming.

Around here, they call him Bubba. His birth name is Joshua Johnson, and he is a senior. The youngest of 11 children, Bubba acquired his nickname from an uncle as a child. Over the years it became more than that, and now his friends, siblings, coaches, teachers and even his…