Video: Former Bulldog Johnson Giving Back Through Basketball

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — Former Mississippi State Bulldogs basketball player Jeffrey Johnson held his third annual youth basketball camp at the Boys and Girls Club in Columbus, Saturday.

Johnson, a Memphis native, went to college at MUW before transferring to Mississippi State, playing one year with the Bulldogs in 2014.

The camp is run through Johnson’s organization, Speak Life Memphis, which places an emphasis on the performing arts, mentoring and basketball to empower young kids spiritually and personally.

“A guy like myself who played at that level, who is involved in the community, that comes back and actually gives wholeheartedly,” Johnson said of his personal efforts, “Not just trying to get media recognition, but actually wants the community to be involved and the kids to actually grow.

“That’s my heart. I studied youth development in college. coaching, and why not use my gift at this platform to give back to the people that gave back to me.”

Along with Johnson, former local basketball standouts Ti Davis, of Starkville, and Kelsei Ewings, of West Point, helped be a part of the camp.

“It makes me happy to know that they get to come out and do something that they’re not getting in trouble,” Ewings said.

“I’m pretty sure that coming up here on a Saturday, in the morning, is easy for the parents, but it’s easy for the kids too. They get to relieve a little stress…they get to come up here and do something they love, and we get to come up here and do something we love as well…in some positivity to the kids.”