Lara Croft
04-09-2002, 12:28 PM
This is bizarre --
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nfl09apr09.story
Here's the text:
April 9, 2002
It's Elementary
NFL prospect Dennis Johnson began his career as a high school player at age 6.
By SAM FARMER, Times Staff Writer
Long before he established himself as one of college
football's best defensive ends, Kentucky's Dennis
Johnson was a high school scrub, a human tackling
dummy, a sideline standby who only saw action in
garbage time.
Then again, he was only 6 at the time.
That is no misprint. Johnson, among the top
prospects in the upcoming NFL draft, was a member
of the Harrodsburg (Ky.) High football team when
he was a 5-foot-7, 170-pound second-grader. His is
a bizarre story to just about everyone but his older
brother, Derrick, who was a third-grader on that
same team.
"One of the guys on the team had to teach me how
to tie my shoes," said Derrick, who was 5 feet 6 and
185 pounds when he was 7, and years later would
join Dennis on Kentucky's defensive line. "We grew
up on the football field."
The Harrodsburg team was coached by their father,
Alvis, who ran the football program for 25 years
before following his sons to Kentucky, where he is
an assistant athletic director. He is a past president
of the National Federation of State High School
Assns. An official from that governing body said
Dennis and Derrick are believed to be the youngest
participants of any high school varsity sport in
history.
"I have a real hard time believing anybody out there
could do it at a younger age than they did," NFSHSA
spokesman John Gillis said.
The two cases that come closest, Gillis said, were
girls who excelled in cross-country. One, from
Alabama, won six consecutive state titles from
grades seven through 12. The other, from Kentucky,
won five consecutive titles, beginning in fifth grade.
At the time the Johnsons were playing football,
Kentucky was one of five states that allowed
younger students to participate in varsity sports even
though they had yet to enroll in high school. There
was no minimum age limit when the Johnson
brothers joined the team.
In the wake of their case, however, the state
adopted rules prohibiting students from playing on a
varsity team before seventh grade. Later, that was
changed to ninth grade.
After playing one varsity season when they were in
elementary school, the Johnsons only practiced with
the team until they reached junior high. So, for
Dennis, the journey from second grade to first string
took five years.
The Johnson case was more a curiosity than a
concern. They were hulking—bigger than many of
their teachers—and Harrodsburg competes at the
Class A level, for schools with the smallest
enrollment. The boys only trotted onto the field when
games had been decided and third-stringers were
getting a chance.
"I remember the first game I put Dennis in," Alvis
said. "I put him in at guard, and he was 6 or 7 at the
time. His assignment was to block the linebacker. He went out and blocked the
linebacker. Actually cut him. I'm sure none of the people knew how old [the
Johnson boys] were. You couldn't tell them from a lot of the other kids."
That was little consolation to the boys' mother, Rosetta Johnson, who was
wringing her hands in the stands when she first watched her sons take the field.
"Did I flinch? Yes, I did when he put them in," she said. "I said, 'God take care of
them and help [Alvis] make good decisions.' But it was fun."
Her boys have no regrets.
"Looking back on it now, I think it was a good thing," said Dennis, who is 6-5 and
262 pounds and widely considered one of the top 10 available defensive ends.
Draft experts say he could be selected as high as late in the first round. "It taught
me about hard work, responsibility and, more than anything, toughness."
Dennis, 22, who won a national player of the year after his senior season at
Harrodsburg, led the Southeastern Conference last season with 12 sacks, 19
tackles for losses, and five forced fumbles. He opted to forgo his senior season.
He had a more noteworthy college career than Derrick, 23, a 6-foot, 325-pound
defensive tackle, who is hoping to make an NFL team as a late-round draft pick
or free agent.
Still, many people in Harrodsburg best remember the brothers as enormous for
their age, legendary eaters, polite and respectful to a fault, and utterly devoted to
following their father. They didn't watch cartoons, they watched game films. It
was common for them to attend coaches' meetings or break down video in their
spare time.
"By sixth grade, I was going through double- and triple-practice sessions," Dennis
recalled. "I was footballing it all day as a youngster. No time for me to go to the
park and play on the swings."
Innocence lost? That's not how the Johnsons see it. They chose to focus on
football—they never felt pressured, they say—and they were still kids in many
ways.
"They found all the time for the normalcy of childhood," Rosetta said. "They
attended the birthday parties, they had kids over to spend the night, they'd go to
church with them—that's a priority in our household—they'd play the board
games. We didn't make them make these choices, it was just something they
enjoyed doing."
Sometimes, the age gap was glaring. When their teammates were writing to
colleges, the Johnson brothers were writing to Santa Claus. When their
teammates were chasing cheerleaders, they were chasing ice-cream trucks.
"I'd hear guys talking about girls," Dennis said. "I'd just sit back and listen and
say, 'Man, what are these guys talking about? Girls? I don't like girls. All I want
to do is play football.'"
Chris Freeman was a Harrodsburg senior during Dennis' first season. The two
played the same positions—guard and defensive end—and frequently would face
each other in practice. Alvis Johnson always instructed his players not to take it
easy on his sons, make them work for everything.
"It's really tough for a guy that's 18 years old when you get a second-grader lined
up against you," Freeman said. "It was pretty much like a battle trench out there.
It's really tough to say, 'OK, I'm getting ready to tear into you.' It was a lose-lose
for me, no doubt about it.
"People would tell me: 'I can't believe you hit a second-grader.' I'd say: 'Look,
I'm not going to spend the next eight hours running sprints.'"
By the time Dennis was in the seventh grade, he was a starter entrusted with
making the defensive calls. He felt like a veteran, and wound up starting six
consecutive years. He had a keen ability to anticipate.
"The biggest thing was I was always the last one into my stance," he said. "I was
kind of a quarterback on defense—looking in people's eyes, looking down the line
to see if someone was in a heavy stance or light stance. It became second
nature."
And it still is, Johnson said. Football is still a major part of his life, but it isn't the
sole focus. He now has a 4-month-old son, Skylar, to whom he happily devotes
every spare moment. Skylar doesn't do much more than sleep and eat, which is
no problem. Varsity football can wait. How long is anyone's guess.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nfl09apr09.story
Here's the text:
April 9, 2002
It's Elementary
NFL prospect Dennis Johnson began his career as a high school player at age 6.
By SAM FARMER, Times Staff Writer
Long before he established himself as one of college
football's best defensive ends, Kentucky's Dennis
Johnson was a high school scrub, a human tackling
dummy, a sideline standby who only saw action in
garbage time.
Then again, he was only 6 at the time.
That is no misprint. Johnson, among the top
prospects in the upcoming NFL draft, was a member
of the Harrodsburg (Ky.) High football team when
he was a 5-foot-7, 170-pound second-grader. His is
a bizarre story to just about everyone but his older
brother, Derrick, who was a third-grader on that
same team.
"One of the guys on the team had to teach me how
to tie my shoes," said Derrick, who was 5 feet 6 and
185 pounds when he was 7, and years later would
join Dennis on Kentucky's defensive line. "We grew
up on the football field."
The Harrodsburg team was coached by their father,
Alvis, who ran the football program for 25 years
before following his sons to Kentucky, where he is
an assistant athletic director. He is a past president
of the National Federation of State High School
Assns. An official from that governing body said
Dennis and Derrick are believed to be the youngest
participants of any high school varsity sport in
history.
"I have a real hard time believing anybody out there
could do it at a younger age than they did," NFSHSA
spokesman John Gillis said.
The two cases that come closest, Gillis said, were
girls who excelled in cross-country. One, from
Alabama, won six consecutive state titles from
grades seven through 12. The other, from Kentucky,
won five consecutive titles, beginning in fifth grade.
At the time the Johnsons were playing football,
Kentucky was one of five states that allowed
younger students to participate in varsity sports even
though they had yet to enroll in high school. There
was no minimum age limit when the Johnson
brothers joined the team.
In the wake of their case, however, the state
adopted rules prohibiting students from playing on a
varsity team before seventh grade. Later, that was
changed to ninth grade.
After playing one varsity season when they were in
elementary school, the Johnsons only practiced with
the team until they reached junior high. So, for
Dennis, the journey from second grade to first string
took five years.
The Johnson case was more a curiosity than a
concern. They were hulking—bigger than many of
their teachers—and Harrodsburg competes at the
Class A level, for schools with the smallest
enrollment. The boys only trotted onto the field when
games had been decided and third-stringers were
getting a chance.
"I remember the first game I put Dennis in," Alvis
said. "I put him in at guard, and he was 6 or 7 at the
time. His assignment was to block the linebacker. He went out and blocked the
linebacker. Actually cut him. I'm sure none of the people knew how old [the
Johnson boys] were. You couldn't tell them from a lot of the other kids."
That was little consolation to the boys' mother, Rosetta Johnson, who was
wringing her hands in the stands when she first watched her sons take the field.
"Did I flinch? Yes, I did when he put them in," she said. "I said, 'God take care of
them and help [Alvis] make good decisions.' But it was fun."
Her boys have no regrets.
"Looking back on it now, I think it was a good thing," said Dennis, who is 6-5 and
262 pounds and widely considered one of the top 10 available defensive ends.
Draft experts say he could be selected as high as late in the first round. "It taught
me about hard work, responsibility and, more than anything, toughness."
Dennis, 22, who won a national player of the year after his senior season at
Harrodsburg, led the Southeastern Conference last season with 12 sacks, 19
tackles for losses, and five forced fumbles. He opted to forgo his senior season.
He had a more noteworthy college career than Derrick, 23, a 6-foot, 325-pound
defensive tackle, who is hoping to make an NFL team as a late-round draft pick
or free agent.
Still, many people in Harrodsburg best remember the brothers as enormous for
their age, legendary eaters, polite and respectful to a fault, and utterly devoted to
following their father. They didn't watch cartoons, they watched game films. It
was common for them to attend coaches' meetings or break down video in their
spare time.
"By sixth grade, I was going through double- and triple-practice sessions," Dennis
recalled. "I was footballing it all day as a youngster. No time for me to go to the
park and play on the swings."
Innocence lost? That's not how the Johnsons see it. They chose to focus on
football—they never felt pressured, they say—and they were still kids in many
ways.
"They found all the time for the normalcy of childhood," Rosetta said. "They
attended the birthday parties, they had kids over to spend the night, they'd go to
church with them—that's a priority in our household—they'd play the board
games. We didn't make them make these choices, it was just something they
enjoyed doing."
Sometimes, the age gap was glaring. When their teammates were writing to
colleges, the Johnson brothers were writing to Santa Claus. When their
teammates were chasing cheerleaders, they were chasing ice-cream trucks.
"I'd hear guys talking about girls," Dennis said. "I'd just sit back and listen and
say, 'Man, what are these guys talking about? Girls? I don't like girls. All I want
to do is play football.'"
Chris Freeman was a Harrodsburg senior during Dennis' first season. The two
played the same positions—guard and defensive end—and frequently would face
each other in practice. Alvis Johnson always instructed his players not to take it
easy on his sons, make them work for everything.
"It's really tough for a guy that's 18 years old when you get a second-grader lined
up against you," Freeman said. "It was pretty much like a battle trench out there.
It's really tough to say, 'OK, I'm getting ready to tear into you.' It was a lose-lose
for me, no doubt about it.
"People would tell me: 'I can't believe you hit a second-grader.' I'd say: 'Look,
I'm not going to spend the next eight hours running sprints.'"
By the time Dennis was in the seventh grade, he was a starter entrusted with
making the defensive calls. He felt like a veteran, and wound up starting six
consecutive years. He had a keen ability to anticipate.
"The biggest thing was I was always the last one into my stance," he said. "I was
kind of a quarterback on defense—looking in people's eyes, looking down the line
to see if someone was in a heavy stance or light stance. It became second
nature."
And it still is, Johnson said. Football is still a major part of his life, but it isn't the
sole focus. He now has a 4-month-old son, Skylar, to whom he happily devotes
every spare moment. Skylar doesn't do much more than sleep and eat, which is
no problem. Varsity football can wait. How long is anyone's guess.