COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Jerrod Johnson's first Super Bowl ended with tears and a thrown helmet. Never mind that it was youth football on a field near the Houston suburb of Humble, Texas. Johnson was 9 and it was 1997. He might as well have been the Patriots' Drew Bledsoe to his best friend's Brett Favre. Jerrod was better than most of the kids his age. He didn't lose much. He did that day, and his helmet went for a ride when it was over.

Jerrod Johnson's father taught him what being an Aggie is all about. Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images

His coach and father, Larry Johnson, who also coached for Humble's high school team, saw it. He could live with his quarterback throwing interceptions -- helmets were a no-no.

"He just told me that I can never conduct myself that way," Johnson said. "If you want to be a leader, you can never be too high, you can never be too low. Just try to stay even-keel."

Most of his father's lessons began with Jerrod's tears fogging up his goofy glasses as a kid. Dad was always teaching; Jerrod was always learning. There were plenty of lessons about football, more about life, but a lot about what it meant to be an Aggie. Larry wore the maroon and white as a receiver and defensive back in the 1970s, and passed on his passion to Jerrod and his oldest son, Marquis.

"He grew up from Day 1 learning about this stuff. Me, I only learned about this stuff at A&M through recruiting," said Von Miller, Jerrod's teammate. "He's been born and raised to be an Aggie, and he's gonna die an Aggie. And his kids are gonna be Aggies and their kids are gonna be Aggies."

Jerrod watched the time come for those before him at Humble. Players such as Jackie Battle and David Boston embraced it and worked their way into college and eventually the NFL. Others were sidelined by mistakes along the way. Johnson saw how to do both and made his choice.

Johnson's time is now. He worked to earn a scholarship offer from the Aggies. He worked to hang on to his starting job after Stephen McGee returned from the injury that gave Johnson his first opportunity after two years on the bench. He worked to become the conference's best quarterback after just one season as a full-time starter. Now he's Texas A&M's best hope for a Big 12 title, their first since 1998.

"I put so much into football. It's a huge priority for me," said Johnson, who graduated in May with a degree in kinesiology and hopes of teaching and coaching after football. "It goes family-faith-football for me, now that I'm graduated. Everything else is expendable after that."