Former Bronco To Line Up vs UNT

[MeanGreen61]

Football: Former Bronco to line up vs. UNT

Johnson played OL at DHS before signing with Tigers

09:57 AM CDT on Saturday, October 29, 2005

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

North Texas offensive lineman Jason May remembers seeing an unfamiliar mountain of a man standing on the sideline during a Mean Green scrimmage just a few years ago.

At 6-7 and 335 pounds, Herman Johnson was pretty hard to miss, even during his days as an offensive tackle at Denton.

“He didn’t look like a high school kid,” May said. “He was pretty large.”

That label has always fit Johnson, who will face some old friends and acquaintances tonight when LSU (5-1) hosts North Texas (2-4) at 7 p.m. in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. Johnson developed into one of the top high school offensive linemen in the country during his time with the Broncos before signing with LSU.

Johnson sat out most of his first year with a medical redshirt, but has gradually moved into a more prominent role with the Tigers as a backup offensive lineman this season. The redshirt freshman is expected to receive significant playing time against the Mean Green.

UNT defensive end Raifu Durodoye and wide receiver Isiah Smith both played with Johnson at Denton and are now backups at UNT.

“It will be weird to play against some of those guys instead of playing with them,” Johnson said. “I hope to see Raifu at the game. It will be like old times in high school when we went against each other in practice.”

Despite leaving Denton for Baton Rouge, Johnson has maintained his ties local ties. Johnson and Smith were close in high school and still talk on a regular basis.

“Isaiah and I talked about the game a bunch over the summer,” Johnson said. “He told me the Tigers were going down. We joked around about the game.”

When he isn’t busy preparing for LSU’s next game, Johnson still follows Denton and UNT on the Internet.

Johnson and some of his high school teammates became familiar with UNT while hanging out at the Mean Green’s practices and scrimmages through the years.

“When I had some spare time, I would go out and watch practice,” Johnson said. “The players and coaches would come by and ask how things were going.”

UNT coach Darrell Dickey was more than happy to have Johnson come by.

“Herman always treated us with respect,” Dickey said. “Some kids act like they are too good to even visit with you. He never had that attitude. He is a great young man and an outstanding football player who deserves every opportunity he is getting.”

Rivals.com ranked Johnson No. 3 among high school offensive tackles during his senior year at Denton because of an unusual combination of size and agility.

Johnson is starting to capitalize on that potential after a slow start at LSU, where he came in with great fanfare. Johnson was not only a top recruit, he is also the largest baby ever born in Louisiana, where he tipped the scales at 15 pounds, 14 ounces.

When he arrived at LSU, Johnson was too large, even for a college offensive tackle, at 411 pounds.

After playing 42 snaps in two games as a freshman, Johnson received a medical redshirt. Since that time, Johnson has cut his weight down to 335 pounds by reducing fatty foods and sweets in his diet. He is listed at 371, his weight at the beginning of fall practice, in LSU’s media guide.

The benefits of that weight loss have been impressive. Johnson is listed as LSU’s top backup at both right guard and right tackle and also serves as a blocking back in goal line situations.

“Coach put me in and told me to try and move the line,” Johnson said. “It’s different. You have a view of everything from the backfield.”

Johnson started at right guard in LSU’s win over Vanderbilt and has contributed to the Tigers running out to a 5-1 record and a No. 7 national ranking.

Dickey said playing LSU would be as big a challenge as UNT has faced during his eight-year tenure with the team. The Tigers have knocked off a pair of nationally ranked teams the last two weeks in Florida and Auburn and are in the thick of the race for the SEC West Division title.

Quarterback JaMarcus Russell has thrown for 1,307 yards on the season, while running back Joseph Addai has added 642 rushing yards.

UNT has not been as successful. The Mean Green dropped their third straight non-conference game last week against Louisiana Tech. Dickey said he saw small signs of progress in that loss when senior running back Patrick Cobbs rushed for 108 yards on an average of 7.2 yards a carry.

The Mean Green will have to make huge strides from their performance against Tech to stay with LSU.

“We are going to have to execute as well as we can, stay with them and hope something comes up in the fourth quarter,” UNT linebacker Phillip Graves said. “To do that we will have to play to the best of our ability and cut out our mistakes.”

No matter the outcome, Johnson will be looking for Smith at the end of the night.

“I am going to mess with him after the game,” Johnson said.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .