It’s been an interesting offseason for Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and Long Beach native John "JuJu" Smith-Schuster to say the least. The player, who graduated from Poly High School, was first seen courtside at a Cleveland Cavaliers game trying to recruit Lebron James to play for the Steelers next season. Now, he is taking heat on social media for attending the Coachella Music Festival this weekend and not “focusing enough on football.” In response, Smith-Schuster posted a picture on his Instagram account with him holding a toy football to let everyone know football was still on the star receiver’s mind.
Smith-Schuster burst on the scene last season with the Steelers as a 20-year-old rookie lining up opposite of arguably the best receiver in the game, Antonio Brown. Smith-Schuster had 58 receptions for 917 yards with seven touchdowns. Not only was he producing results offensively, but he was gaining national attention with his hilarious touchdown celebrations which included a game of hide and seek, snowball fights and imitating pro-wrestling. He also took the league by storm when he laid out rival and notorious dirty player in the NFL, Cincinnati Bengal linebacker Vontaze Burfict.
To all those on social media saying Smith-Schuster doesn’t focus enough on football, just take a look at his highlight videos on YouTube. He is no one-hit wonder in the league; this kid can absolutely ball and will continue to add highlights to his resume as his career continues in Pittsburgh. Plus, remember that he is only 21 years old and has access to a lot of things others his age could only dream about. From the pictures he posted at Coachella, it doesn’t look like he has taken a day off from training; the dude is jacked and looks ready for the season.
Let JuJu be JuJu and just enjoy what the Long Beach Poly alumnus can do on the field and not worry about what he is doing off of it.