Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Johnson the `Difference' for 2014 Herd
11/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Devon Johnson didn’t come from nowhere to be one of the nation’s leading rushers. To those outside the Marshall football program, it just seems that way.
The erstwhile Herd tight end of two seasons has rushed for 1,402 yards and 16 touchdowns in nine games, a right knee sprain keeping him out of a win at Southern Mississippi.
As the No. 18 Herd (10-0, 6-0 Conference USA) heads to the "old gray lady" that is Legion Field to meet UAB (5-5, 3-3) on Saturday, Johnson’s 2014 rushing total ranks sixth in Marshall single-season history – and he’s only 122 yards from No. 4 and 432 yards from surpassing Chris Parker’s 1995 record of 1,833 yards.
The 6-foot-1, 243-pound Johnson has rushed for eight games of 100 yards or more, which is the Marshall record as a major college program (1953-81 and 1997-present). His 272 yards (on only 24 carries) against Florida Atlantic is the single-game school mark. He’s also had games of 198 and 199 yards (Old Dominion, Rice).
When the 10 semifinalists for the 2014 Doak Walker Award -- it goes to the nation’s top running back -- are announced Wednesday, no one should be surprised if Johnson has barreled his way onto the list. The guy nicknamed "Rockhead" is the one who has changed the Herd’s profile more than any player.
Some guys run like a deer. Johnson runs like a Deere.
"He, in my opinion, is the difference," Rice Coach Bailiff said Saturday after Johnson Humvee’d through the Owls last Saturday. "(Quarterback Rakeem) Cato was great last year, but now they have the rushing that they can depend on. When he touched the ball, he is a full head of steam, great vision on the field, and hard to bring down."
And for all of the junior’s success with the ball in his hands – he’s averaging 8.6 yards per carry and 155.8 per game – it’s something else in which the Richlands, Va., resident takes pride.
"I have not allowed a sack," Johnson said Monday, when reminded that when he moved to the backfield to start August camp he said blocking for Cato was his biggest assignment. "That’s because of all the hard work, and that’s the reason why I practice more blocking than anything.
"When I go against the linebackers (in Herd practices), I really take that drill personally because we’ve got to keep (No.) 12 up on his feet if we want to win the game."
With one more yard against Rice, Johnson could have been the first Herd running back to gain 200 or more in consecutive appearances since Ron Darby in November 1988 at Western Carolina and Youngstown State. It was a similar situation back on Oct. 4 at ODU, when Johnson finished six feet short of 200 yards.
"The offensive line found out somehow about it (199 yards) down on the field, and they were determined to try to go back in for one more play," Johnson said. "But Coach (Bill) Legg (offensive coordinator) said shut it down, we’re good.
‘If they threw us back in there and something happened, he would feel bad, so he said no. But, you know, it was fun and all the credit goes to (the line) and I wish I could have gotten 200 for them because the O-line deserves it, the way they block every game.
"It felt like it did then (at ODU). The offensive line tried to do it there, too, but coach shut it down again. But it’s just fun to watch that O-line want that 200 mark so bad, because they do deserve it."
Johnson was injured in the record-setting game against FAU. The Herd then had an open week before Coach Doc Holliday held Johnson out for precautionary measures at Southern Miss.
Against Rice, he didn’t miss a beat.
"I just tried to play really fast," Johnson said when asked if he were concerned about getting back in the flow. "That’s what I try to do, every time out, try to play fast. And from the neck up and everything else would come. I felt like I’d be a little rusty starting off, but then it will wear off."
Another of Johnson’s impressive statistics is that he always seems to be tractoring forward. In his nine games, he’s lost only 20 yards, and 10 of those came on a bad pitch from Cato that Johnson couldn’t grasp with the Herd leading 41-3 early in the fourth quarter at Akron.
Johnson admitted he did have some inner apprehension about his return and his knee allowing him to do what he’d done in his first eight games. Those ended quickly.
He gained 7 yards on his first carry in the Herd’s 41-14 romp past Rice, and then came the play that eased his mind, he said.
"It was the second play, when I had to jump over the offensive line," Johnson said. "A Rice defensive lineman went after our offensive line’s legs, knocked them down, and it ended up in a big pile and I had to jump over them.
"That’s when I knew, that’s when it clicked, ‘Hey there’s really nothing wrong,’ and I jumped over them, and somebody took my legs out, and it was third-and-1 and I still got the first down (with 2 yards to the Owls’ 49, where Rice end Zach Patt made the stop).
"He hit me in my leg and ‘Hey, there’s nothing wrong.’"
Ask Johnson how he wants to finish the season, and the answer is a team response – "just keep doing what we’ve been doing."
And as the Herd goes to UAB with a second straight C-USA East Division title in the bag, the running back said there’s more to be won after getting this first clincher against the team that downed Marshall for the 2013 title last December.
"It means a lot to us because it shows all of the hard work we’ve put into it this year," Johnson said of the East-clinching win over the Owls. "And it’s still not over to us. We’ve still got two games left (at UAB; Western Kentucky at home on Nov. 26) before the conference championship game. We’ve got to take it one week at a time before we worry about the conference championship."
Johnson’s numbers are just that to a player who ran for 4,340 yards and 63 touchdowns in his stellar career at Richlands High School.
"No, I had no idea," Johnson said when asked about expectations before his first season as a collegiate back. "I really didn’t have a goal, how many yards, how many touchdowns I’d have. I really just wanted to do my best to help the team win and everything else is just icing on the cake … and it’s fun."
At UAB, where the Blazers haven’t had a winning season or gone to a bowl since 2004, first-year Coach Bill Clark knows what’s coming.
"You think back to the wishbone," Clark said at his Monday presser. "This guy (Johnson) is 6-foot-2, 250, and runs like a sprinter. He looks like a fullback and has that same mentality. He will hit it for 2 (yards), hit it for 3, and then he is in the secondary. They throw the ball so well in their spread formations, that as you cover their receivers, it opens up the middle.
"It is not that they give you multiple formations. The brilliance is in the simplicity. They do a great job up front. They are massive up front and have a 6-foot-7 tight end (Eric Frohnapfel). The way they use their running back, he’s phenomenal. You see why they score so many points.
"He hangs inside. Most of his are inside runs. They will arc the tight end and he cuts it right back between the defensive end and three-technique (tackle). They understand what they are doing and how you have to play him.
"You have to take your poison. They are going to pack it in and they throw the ball so well. They throw vertical shots. It’s not a lot of diversification of formations but they play fast. They get lined up, see what you’re in, and they take advantage of it."
That’s what Johnson has done for Marshall’s offense this season.
He’s put opponents between a "Rock" and a hard place.
