Poly High School alum JuJu Smith-Schuster is the most popular Long Beach athlete of all-time, AND HE’S ONLY 21!
I mean think about it…maaaaybe you can make a case for Billie Jean King after the “Battle of the Sexes,” but Bobby Riggs was a senior citizen at the time. It’s age-shaming and shouldn’t even count. JuJu is doing it the right way.
For one, he’s absolutely killing it on the football field with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last season, he became the first player in NFL history to score three touchdowns before his 21st birthday. He was also the second youngest player ever to catch a TD pass. And ever since the NFL stopped being the “No Fun League,” JuJu has been the poster child for TD celebrations.
Most importantly, he’s been everywhere on social media, which seems to be the only thing that people care about these days. Social media presence comes first on the importance chart for anyone born in a year that can be rounded up or down to 2000. His Twitter account is out of this world, he has his own YouTube channel, and he can relate to everybody in every generation, nerds included. JuJu might be the biggest video game nerd in the United States and that’s what makes him so likable. We, at 908, love JuJu so much that we have a segment dedicated to him called “Good JuJu/Bad JuJu.”
His latest “Good JuJu” moment came last weekend at the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation softball event in Findlay, Ohio. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hosted a softball game with proceeds benefiting the K-9 and service dog units for various police departments. It doesn’t make too much sense because Big Ben isn’t supposed to support Joel Bitonio and the Dawg Pound being AFC North rivals and all. But Big Ben made up for that by bringing JuJu to the event, and he obviously stole the show.
In a demonstration showing how a police dog attacks, JuJu put a bite-resistant guard on his arm and let the K-9 come after him. He was tackled to the ground and damn near got his arm ripped off but had a smile on his face the entire time. He probably did the demonstration to make up for his lackluster performance on the softball field, but either way, the guy can do no wrong.
The hottest topic in the sports world right now is LeBron James’ destination in NBA free agency. JuJu has been trying to recruit LeBron to the Steelers for months now as a joke, but to be honest – I’m starting to think it might happen.
It’s like the age-old question, “If JuJu told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?”
I mean yeah, I think I might. That guy’s awesome.