Bell City's Johnson signs to play volleyball at South Carolina State

South Carolina State volleyball coach Donika Sutton discovered a gem during her trip to a Missouri Class 1 sectional volleyball match last season.

Sutton, who is from Hayti, Mo., and was an assistant coach at South Carolina State last season, watched Bell City's Jasmine Johnson lead the Cubs into the state quarterfinal round last season.

"She approached me and was like, 'We're thinking about looking at you from South Carolina State,'" Johnson said. "I didn't know where it was or even heard of it. It's a four-year university, and I was like, 'OK, I want to go there.'"

Johnson visited the South Carolina State campus in early October and finalized her decision last week when she signed a letter of intent to continue her volleyball career with the Bulldogs.

"The campus, I like that, the dorm, the team," Johnson said. "The coach I liked a lot. Plus the coach is from down here, so I was like, 'OK.'"

Johnson said she also considered Southeast Missouri State and Murray State as well as some junior colleges before deciding on South Carolina State, which is located in Orangeburg, S.C. The Bulldogs compete in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

"I am going to love it, even though it is far away," Johnson said.

South Carolina State finished second in the MEAC's Southern Division this season. It went 8-3 in the conference before being upset in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament.

Johnson said Sutton plans to use her as a hitter.

"She said in order for me to be a powerhouse hitter, I need to lift a lot of weights by the time I get down there," Johnson said. "I'm definitely OK doing that."

Bell City coach Amber Nenninger said Johnson provided a steadying presence for the Cubs this season.

"She was a team leader," Nenninger said. "She got the girls back up whenever we were having tough games. She really pushed them to do better and stayed on top of them."

Johnson finished with more than 300 kills this season after recording 551 kills and 62 stuff blocks as a junior.

"There were a lot of times, even in warmups, that she really got up there and pushed hard, gave it 110 percent," Nenninger said. "It was fun watching her."

Erin Hoffman started coaching Johnson in seventh grade before Hoffman became Scott City's coach this season. She wasn't surprised to see Johnson sign with a Division I program.

"She wanted to be good from the beginning," Hoffman said. "Sometimes when you're in junior high, you don't understand it's going to help you so much in high school. Well she was, from the beginning, she wanted to be a good player. She, on top of her natural athleticism, has a very high volleyball IQ. She sees the court. She has all the anticipation, court awareness, all that sort of stuff also. She also loves it. She absolutely loves the game."

Hoffman, who has led four teams to the final four including a state title in 2003, said Johnson is a special athlete.

"She's one of the first big natural athletes I've had coaching," Hoffman said. "I've had some decent athletes before, but that was a big part of it. Then also the fact she wanted to be good. She put it to use. She didn't just say, 'Well I'm talented enough athletically, so I can just play off of that.' She made sure she had all the fundamentals as well."

A Division I scholarship is not something new for the Johnsons. Jasmine's brother Dominitrix played guard on the Illinois State basketball team for two seasons.