Johnson goes deep on return
Posted on Sunday, November 2, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — Dennis Johnson played baseball in high school.
Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, he went 1 for 1 with a game-winning home run.
Johnson’s 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown — his only return of the day — answered Tulsa’s game-tying field goal in the third quarter and ultimately proved to be the winning margin in Arkansas’ 30-23 victory.
“That was really the difference,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. “It’s always a combination of guys getting their blocks and then the returner really hitting it hard and making one great cut, and that’s what he did.”
Johnson began the game averaging 21. 4 yards per return, including a handful of near-misses. It didn’t take him long after fielding the ball on Saturday to know he had a chance to go the distance.
“After 10 steps it opened up and I just thought, ‘I’m going to hit and go,’” Johnson said.
Johnson credited Brandon Barnett and Van Stumon for springing key blocks, and the rest was up to him. Johnson stiff-armed kicker Cory Jefferis — the only Tulsa player to touch him — to the ground, then sped down the sideline as he outran the pursuit into the end zone.
“He wasn’t going to tackle me,” a laughing Johnson said of Jefferis. “I saw the end zone.”
The return was Arkansas ’ first for a touchdown this season, the first since Felix Jones went 82 yards against Kentucky last season, and the longest since Jones went 100 yards against Ole Miss in 2006.
Johnson said there was nothing complicated about the return scheme, but he was confident it would give him a chance to make a big play.
“We practiced the same return all week, and we knew we were going to score on that return,” Johnson said. “I mean, all I had to do was follow the blocks.... I just got up in there and saw the hole, and bounced out.”
Johnson ran through the end zone and toward the shrubs that line the wall separating the stadium seats from the playing field. After high-fiving a few fans and being mobbed by several teammates, Johnson was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“[The official ] said that he pounded his chest in front of the crowd,” Petrino said. “That was the reason he gave, and that one upsets me a little bit because I’ve been watching all year long and they’re not calling stuff.
“ We had one team that we played this year where they were doing the throat-slash, and they weren’t calling it.... I didn’t see the whole deal, but from what I was told, it didn’t look like a penalty.”
More than one player said Johnson’s score provided a muchneeded emotional lift after Tulsa erased a 17-0 deficit to tie the score 23-23.
“Oh, a great feeling, a great feeling,” nose guard Ernest Mitchell said. “D. J. really did his thing, and just took it all the way to the house.
Tulsa Coach Todd Graham was left on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum.
“ The kickoff return for a touchdown was absolutely ridiculous,” Graham said. “We let our players down on that as a coaching staff. We didn’t have our best players in the game, and that is inexcusable. There’s no excuse for having second-and third-string guys in the game at that time. I’m not sure why it was like that, but I’ll find out.
“ You never know when the one play is going to be the difference in the game. A lot of hard work went into us being undefeated, and it’s very tough to lose it on a play like that.”
For an Arkansas team coming off back-to-back gut-wrenching losses, Johnson’s return couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I was happy he finally took one to the house,” linebacker Jerry Franklin said. “I’ve been telling him he needed to take one back, and he finally did it today.”
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