Know the Name: Corpus Christi's top prospect Johnny Dickson ready to step up when mom's on deployment

Corpus Christi Flour Bluff offensive lineman Johnny Dickson already holds offers from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. In addition to playing football this season, Dickson will have to watch his younger brother while his mom goes on deployment for the Navy.
DCTF Admin

Candace Dickson is bracing for the flood of tears that will inevitably stream down her face this December.

It’s then that the 13-year veteran of the U.S. Navy will embark on her fifth deployment, an 18-month tour that will keep her away from her adoring children, Johnny and Cameran Dickson.

“It’s been me, Johnny and Cameran for the last eight years,” she said. “So a big part of my heart will be staying in Texas while I’m overseas. I’m gonna cry like a baby for the first month until I get acclimated to a schedule. It’s going to be hard.”

An increase in parental responsibilities will fall on the broad shoulders of 16-year-old Johnny to look after his 13-year-old brother while the two stay with family friends in Corpus Christi.

It’s nothing that the 6-foot-3, 280-pound junior-to-be at Flour Bluff High School can’t handle though. He’s been the man of the Dickson household ever since his parents got a divorce and the three of them moved from Virginia Beach, Virginia to South Texas during his eighth grade year.

“I’m just going to have to watch my brother, which I’ve pretty much been doing my whole life anyway,” Johnny said.