Former Arizona quarterback Jason Johnson can now call himself an Emmy winner.
Johnson is the director of Jason Ryan Creative, a boutique video production company that specializes in visual effects and photography with a studio focusing on TV, commercial, documentary and film production. It specializes in sports and non-fiction programming.
Johnson’s work earned him a Sports Emmy on Tuesday night for Outstanding Short Feature for a story on Maryland football player Melvin Keihn reflecting on having to leave his mother in war-torn Liberia as a child and reuniting with her 14 years later in his hometown.
Johnson’s company is based out of Seattle. His work has appeared on ESPN, ABC, NBC Sports, Big 10 Network, and Pac-12 Network. He regularly works with the NFL, MLB Digital Academy, and MLS.
“Super humbled and excited to hear that tonight our ESPN College Gameday story on Melvin Keihn won the Emmy for Outstanding Short Feature!!!” Johnson posted on Instagram. “Thank you to reporter Gene Wojciechowski for traveling to Liberia with me to tell this story, and to my man (Keihn) for allowing us the privilege to share in this special moment.
“It was so much FUN shooting and editing this piece. And big thanks to my wife for putting up with all the days on the road doing things like this. Amazing!!!”
Former Arizona quarterback Jason Johnson with his son Jax (Johnson photo)
Before working in production, Johnson had a six-year professional football career in Canada, Austria and Italy. He was named the 2001 Woody Hayes Award Winner as the top scholar-athlete in Division I sports at Arizona
Johnson held the Arizona single-game passing record with 492 yards against Cal in 2002, before Willie Tuitama had 510 against Washington in 2007 and Anu Solomon 520 against Cal in 2014.
Johnson also was the first Arizona passer to eclipse 3,000 yards in a season when he had 3,327 yards in 2002. He ranks seventh in Arizona career passing yards with 5,749.
Here is Johnson’s Instagram post after he learned his production won a Sports Emmy last night:
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