It’s been six months since Juan Johnson hit the ground running as James Clemens’ new head football coach.

Neither he nor his new program has slowed down since.

Johnson was hired to lead the Jets in January following a season at Baker High that saw his Hornets go 9-3 with the program’s first playoff win since 1984: a double-overtime victory against Hewitt-Trussville.

“We’ve transitioned and we’ve got some things done really well,” Johnson said. “Offseason conditioning went really well. We stayed fairly healthy, from that standpoint. We’ve got one senior that I wish could play for us; he’s out with a season-ending injury that happened back in April. Other than that, we’ve remained tremendously healthy.

“We’ve done some things really well to stay consistent and get ready for the season.”

Among the most recent offseason preparations for James Clemens include OTAs against defending Class 6A champion Parker and perennial power Clay-Chalkville.

During Wednesday’s OTA vs. Clay-Chalkville in Madison, the Jets’ defense had plenty of highlight moments in the joint workouts.

“Coach Gideon, our DC, has done a tremendous job of getting them ready this summer,” Johnson said of the defense. “Offensively, we have time in which we had success, but at the end of the day, you have to put it on when you play really elite competition. In the last two weeks, we’ve played Parker and Clay-Chalkville; they’re both the last two Class 6A state champions.

“From a competition standpoint, we want to play against the best it’s possible to play and continue in our preparation to get us ready for the 2025 season.”

When asked about the new head coach, junior running back MJ Gideon described Johnson as a “high-intensity” coach.

“It’s good,” Gideon said of the transition. “This practice is more intense, harder and everything. But, it’s going to get us where we need to be.”

Six months into his new job, Johnson said the strength of his team is the leadership from his small group of seniors; he estimated this year’s senior class has 14 athletes.

Among those are defensive linemen James Hollins and Tank Ezell, who were both recognized on the Class 7A, Region 4 all-region football team.

“I want to say we’ve got 115 players, so I’ve got 101 that are considered the underclassmen,” Johnson said. “What comes with that is you’ve got to lean on them very heavily. You want to play as many 18-year-olds as you can.

“Guys like James Hollins and Joc Dennis, they’ve done a tremendous job leading and Christian Wyatt and Alex Lively, they’ve just done a really good job of just getting kids here and understanding what we want to do.”

Gideon, who holds offers that include Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Tulane and Liberty, said that he’s already learned plenty from the former offensive coordinator.

“He taught me a lot of new things that I didn’t know before,” Gideon said. “It’s really just about still getting better at everything.”

Along with defensive coordinator Anthony Gideon on staff, Riley Niblett will fill the other coordinator role on Johnson’s staff.

Son of current Gainesville (Ga.) High and former Hoover, Oxford and Oneonta coach Josh Niblett, he has also had stints at Valdosta (Ga.) High, IMG Academy, Gainesville and Hoover while coaching the college ranks at Jacksonville State and Charlotte.

Other new staffers include former South Alabama wide receiver Victor McClinton (receivers coach, passing game coordinator) and Randolph assistant Jalen Williams (linebackers coach).

“I really like where we are with our staff and what we’ve got going forward,” Johnson said.

The Jets will officially open their first season under Johnson at Gardendale on Aug. 22 before their first game at Madison City Stadium against archrival Bob Jones on Sept. 5.