THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 22, 1996 TAG: 9604220130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ASHBURN, VA. LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Funny how life turns out, Andre Johnson was saying Sunday during his first press conference as the Washington Redskins' newest Hog. The most critical decisions of his life thus far have all been made for him.
Playing high school basketball on Long Island, the 6-foot-5 Johnson averaged 26 points and 26 rebounds a game. Miami, Notre Dame and Seton Hall sought his signature on a basketball grant-in-aid.
``I just bullied people around the court a little,'' Johnson said in an almost embarrassed manner. ``I figured football is where it's at. Besides, I was overweight at every position I would have played in basketball.''
A year after he selected Penn State over Syracuse, coach Joe Paterno summoned him into his office and told him he was scrapping the plans that saw him playing defensive line.
``They told me all the advantages of playing on the offensive side,'' Johnson said, smiling. ``I didn't want to make the transition at first, but when they call you in and want to make a change, there's going to be a change.''
Late in Saturday's first round of the NFL draft, the Redskins made the latest great decision for Johnson. They traded two draft picks to Dallas for the Cowboys' first-round selection, which they used to pluck the player they expect to lead their offensive line into the 21st century from the all-important left tackle position.
``When I was a freshman at Penn State, that something like this could happen never occurred to me,'' Johnson said.
Not that there weren't times during his youth he didn't dream of playing for the Redskins and their vaunted Hogs. They may not have been his favorite team, but they were the runaway choice as his favorite blocking unit.
``Back then, it was all fun,'' he said. ``Coming out of high school, I never studied anybody, but I knew who the Hogs were. And as time went by and I saw them more and more on TV, I knew why they got their names.
``I met Russ Grimm a couple of weeks ago and I knew right away that he was one of the Hogs, that he was one of the people I had watched and marvelled over.''
The Redskins feel much the same way about Johnson these days. They marvel at the speed and quickness he shows for a man who weighs 309 pounds. They watched him play Illinois defensive end Simeon Rice, the third player taken in the draft, and admired the way he kept Rice without a sack, without a tackle. They expect him to continue that streak when Johnson's Redskins and Rice's Cardinals meet in the years to come.
``Perhaps that can turn into a challenge,'' Johnson said. ``Perhaps that can become something we can look forward to a couple of times a season.''
Not that he wouldn't have commanded a handsome salary anyway no matter where he was selected, but the fact that the Redskins moved a pair of highly valued picks for the right to select Johnson only increases his value at the bargaining table. It also increases what he can give back to his mother, Rita Lamison, who he says worked as many as five jobs a day so he wouldn't have to work on anything but his athletic and academic future.
``She's done it all, and done it all for me,'' he said. ``Once I sign, whatever she wants is going to be hers. All she's got to do is name it.''
Asked where he saw himself four years from now, Johnson shyly answered ``on the Redskins line.'' It could happen a lot sooner than that.
The left tackle spot on a suddenly younger, deeper Redskins offensive front is practically begging for Johnson's presence. The organization would most like for veteran Jim Lachey to man the position and tutor their newest first-round pick. But if Lachey can't go because of his torn rotator cuff from last season, Johnson almost certainly will take over and will be expected to play with a veteran's poise.
Again, as luck would have it, fate treated him kindly when Penn State switched from independent status to the more competitive Big Ten.
``It definitely had its advantages,'' Johnson said. ``Not only did we get the opportunity to play some new people, there was no doubt we added to the quality of the competition and the quality of play.''
And no doubt, at least in the Redskins' minds, that it added enough to the quality of Johnson's play to make him a player they just had to have. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
The more Andre Johnson saw the Hogs playing on TV, ``I knew why they
got their names.''
by CNB