FAYETTEVILLE — If wired to a polygraph last Saturday in Gainesville, Fla., it seemed Dennis Johnson might fry.
For Monday week of Arkansas taking nationally No. 1 reigning national/SEC champion Florida to the wire of the Florida Gators’ 23-20 victory, Dennis Johnson implied he wasn’t the answer to the Michael Smith question.
Smith, Arkansas’ senior first-team All-SEC running back in the preseason coming off a season’s best 145 yards rushing effort in the Razorbacks’ 44-23 SEC victory over then-No. 17 Auburn in Fayetteville on Oct. 10, was considered questionable versus Florida because he injured a hamstring during the Auburn game’s second half.
Sophomore kick returner/spare running back Johnson, named the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week for his 71- and 50-yard kick returns versus Auburn, was asked during an Oct. 12 UA press conference where he fit at running back if Smith couldn’t play against Florida.
“It’s not my primary concern,” Johnson said. “We are taking it day by day hoping Michael’s injury is better. You know what I am saying? I am really concentrating on kick returning and making big plays on kick returning.”
Well, last Saturday in Gainesville with Smith on hand but not cleared to play, Johnson’s Oct. 12 press conference performance appeared up for an Academy Award.
Even wife-straying, polished politicians before snagged had fudged with less polish than the sophomore former Texarkana Razorback, it seemed. For in addition to returning five kickoffs for a net 124 yards, all former Texarkana Razorback Johnson did as an Arkansas Razorback with his “not my primary concern” was become the first running back in 2009 to rush triple digits against the Gators. Johnson netted 107 yards on 14 carries and also caught a 15-yard pass to total 246 all-purpose yards.
So was Johnson an inscrutably deadpan secretive sandbagger or just a nose-sprouting, fibbing Pinocchio?
Neither according to Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino’s press conference testimony last Monday. Because with the Hogs having just had a work-the-kinks-out Sunday workout before the Florida week’s Monday press conference, Petrino and running backs coach Tim Horton hadn’t yet fully evaluated the running backs’ what-ifs among Broderick Green, Ronnie Wingo, Knile Davis, De’Anthony Curtis and Johnson if Smith couldn’t heal on time.
“Probably after Wednesday’s practice, I guess you would say,” Petrino said of deciding on Johnson as main man running back versus Florida. “We practiced everybody hard on Tuesday and Wednesday. As a coaching staff we kind of said, ‘If Michael can’t go, who are we going to start and go with?’ Dennis was the decision we made.”
It wasn’t an easy decision in some respects. All the aforementioned backs have contributed key plays to the Hogs’ 2009 campaign. Green ran big against Florida with 10 carries for 40 yards and a touchdown plus a 15-yard catch.
But history and 4.3 speed in the 40-yard dash rode on Johnson’s side. Starting in place of a hamstrung Smith, Johnson was the ground game with 18 carries for 127 yards in the 31-30 upset of LSU closing the 2008 season in Little Rock. He was the ground game against Florida and stands running back ready, pending Smith’s recovery, for today’s 11:21 a.m. SEC network televised SEC West game against the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford, Miss.
“He’s a good football player,” Petrino said. “They couldn’t tackle him very well. He did a great job breaking tackles. He runs hard.”
Hard doesn’t suffice according to the Florida Gators. The 5-8, 205 pounder ran too low down to bring down minus a mob.
“Man, it seemed like he was 5-4 and 230 pounds,” Florida cornerback Joe Haden said. “His legs just kept moving, and no matter how hard you hit him, he was just going to keep running.”
Welcome to the club troubled from the ground up by Johnson’s low center of gravity and high rate of speed.
That’s why Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett, formerly the quarterback of Texarkana, Texas the archrival of Texarkana, Arkansas, prefers to be with Johnson instead of against him.
“I’ve seen D.J. play for three or four years now,” Mallett said. “It seems he steps up every time we play a big-time opponent. He always gives the team that extra little burst and makes big plays when you think he’s stopped and he stiff-arms four guys on a play and runs for 20 yards and stuff like that. I mean, he’s a great player.”
Those Florida Gators ranked greatest in the nation appear to concur.