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Friday, August 31, 2007 | The Red & Black
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JOHNNY CRAWFORD | Atlanta Journal-Constitution
▲ Georgia Tech wide receiver James Johnson
runs a pattern during football practice in
Atlanta, Wednesday, Aug. 8. Tech’s season
begins Saturday against Notre Dame.
AP Poll Top 25
NCAA ranirings
Associated Press Top 25
First-place votes in parentheses
1. Southern California (62)
2. LSU (2)
3. West Virginia (1)
4. Texas
5. Michigan
6. Florida
7. Wisconsin
8. Oklahoma
9. Virginia Tech
10. Louisville
11. Ohio State
12. California
13. Georgia
14. UCLA
15. Tennessee
16. Rutgers
17. Penn State
18. Auburn
19. Florida State
20. Nebraska
21. Arkansas
22. TCU
23. Hawaii
24. Boise State
25. Texas A&M
Others Receiving Votes
Missouri 128, Georgia Tech 94,
Boston College 75, Oregon 73, South
Carolina 69, Miami (FL) 68, Alabama 66,
Oregon State 42, Wake Forest 40, South
Florida 28, Arizona State 17, Brigham Young
14, Southern Miss 12, Notre Dame 11,
Virginia 7, Clemson 6, Oklahoma State 3,
Texas Tech 2, Purdue 1, Houston 1,
Kentucky 1, North Carolina State 1.
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Anew Johnson strives to sting
By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP Sports Writer
ATLANTA As James
Johnson sits on a couch in
the players’ lounge at
Bobby Dodd Stadium, a
familiar face looms over
his left shoulder.
It’s another Johnson
Calvin, to be specific. And
though he’s now earning
millions to play in the NFL,
he still casts a large shad
ow at Georgia Tech.
“He’s always checking
on me,” said James
Johnson, looking back at
Calvin’s image painted on
the wall.
The two Johnsons still
talk frequently on the
phone, Calvin calling in to
make sure James is ready
to take over the role of
go-to receiver for the
Yellow Jackets.
“He wants me to be the
best I can,” James said.
“I’m just not as tall as him
or anything like that.”
Indeed, it’s ludicrous to
expect James, a 6-foot,
190-pound junior, to have
the same impact as Calvin,
Cal aims to redeem
loss against Tenn.
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
BERKELEY, Calif. Every three days
or so, Lavelle Hawkins takes a deep
breath and pushes “Play.”
The film of California’s 35-18 loss at
Tennessee last year flickers to life on his
television.
And the Golden Bears receiver gets
through maybe one quarter before turn
ing it off, burning with frustration and
humiliation.
“It hurts me so bad that we played
so bad,” Hawkins said. “I was so embar
rassed. All that hoopla, and then we
played as bad as we played.
“That was the most embarrassing
loss I’ve played in in my life, and I’ve
played a lot of ball. Oh my God, it
makes me so mad.”
Not many videos outside of a horror
movie have caused as much consterna
tion as Cal’s football follies on that
nightmare Saturday in Knoxville, when
the Volunteers took a 35-point lead and
coasted to a blowout win over the bewil
dered Bears.
The rematch finally arrives this
weekend in Berkeley, and the
12th-ranked Bears believe it might be
their only chance to shake the stigma of
a loss that seemed to confirm every
negative stereotype of West Coast foot
ball while casting doubt on a half-de
cade of rebuilding at Cal, which has
risen from a perennial loser to a Top 25
fixture.
Coach Jeff Tedford acknowledges his
Bears looked soft, defensively deficient
and mentally weak.
Their offense floundered with anew
starting quarterback, while their sec-
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a 6-5, 235-pound freak of
nature. But it would be a
mistake to overlook this
pass-catching Johnson
when the Yellow Jackets
open a season of high
hopes at Notre Dame on
Saturday.
“I’m about as fast as he
was,” James said, a hint of
confidence creeping into
his voice. “(Calvin) just
wants me to be a great
leader, to continue to do
what I do. He’s always tell
ing me it’s my show now.”
Asa sophomore, James
ranked second on the team
with 39 catches for 608
yards an impressive
average of 15.6 per recep
tion —and scored seven
times.
Still, those numbers
paled in comparison to the
other Johnson, who hauled
in 76 throws for a stagger
ing 1,202 yards and 15
TDs.
Without their once-in
a-generation receiver, the
Yellow Jackets plan to
diversify the passing game.
It will no longer be Calvin
and everyone else, as it
ondary gave up a handful of big plays
mostly against a freshman comer
back playing with a cast on his hand
and 100,000 people screaming in his
ear.
“That’s the worst we’ve ever played,”
Tedford said.
“In my five years, I don’t ever remem
ber looking up and being down 35-0. So
we deserved it.
“It’s not really revenge. If anything,
it’s redemption. It wasn’t that we lost
the game last year.
“I think it was the way we lost
the game last year that was the devas
tating part of it, that hung with us so
long.”
“It’s so annoying,” offensive lineman
Mike Tepper said.
“Just because we lost our first game
to a pretty good team doesn’t mean
we’re a joke team.”
Even after winning 10 games and a
Pac-10 co-title and trouncing Texas
A&M in the Holiday Bowl last season,
all California heard about during the
summer was its season-opening loss to
the Vols.
But once the Bears got back to work
last spring, they turned their attention
to the big clock high on the wall in the
comer of their locker room.
It counts the days, hours and min
utes until Saturday, when the No. 15
Volunteers will be in Memorial
Stadium.
“In the summer, it hit me in the
middle of July,” Tepper said. “Wow,
we’ve got Tennessee coming up. I was
thinking about it three, four hours a
day Tennessee, Tennessee, ‘Rocky
Top.’”
Though Cal recovered nicely with
was a year ago when James
was the only other wide
out to reach double-figure
catches.
“I like to think we’ve
split (Calvin) up into five
people,” Bennett said.
‘They’ve all stepped into
some pretty big shoes, and
they’re filling them.”
No one is more eager to
fill those shoes than the
Johnson who stayed
behind. James had a few
dropped balls during
Georgia Tech’s late-season
swoon, but those slip-ups
have only made him more
determined to prove he’s
ready to take over the No.
1 role.
“When you’ve been
behind somebody, you
want to show everybody
what you’re capable of
doing,” Johnson said. “I’m
looking for my spot.”
Coach Chan Gailey is
counting on Johnson to
have a breakout season,
even if he doesn’t come
close to matching the
numbers put up by Calvin.
“Any team that was to
lose a Calvin Johnson
*• *
1 T
WADE PAYNE | Associated Press
A Tennessee quarterback Erik
Ainge rolls out to pass during
their game against South Carolina
on Oct. 29, 2005 in Knoxville,
Tenn.
eight straight wins, quarterback Nate
Longshore remembers more about his
second career start than all of those
games combined.
He actually, enjoyed stepping onto
the field at Neyland Stadium, since
“there’s something real cool about
100,000 people booing you.” Cal’s need
for redemption extends across
graduation boundaries as well.
Several Golden Bears who played in
last season’s debacle will be back at
Memorial Stadium on Saturday, includ
ing tailbacks Marshawn Lynch and
Marcus O’Keith, who got time off from
their NFL clubs.
“We see it as our chance to show
everybody what we’re all about at Cal,”
Hawkins said. “We don’t want another
offseason like this one.”
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.com I
would worry about replac
ing that type of player,”
Gailey said. “But if you
don’t have confidence in
your own players and what
they bring to the table,
then you are wrong as
well.”
The coach provided this
scouting report on James
“Don’t Call Me Calvin”
Johnson: “He is extremely
quick. He’s got better
speed than I think people
give him credit for.
He’s able to make the
tough catch. I know that
he dropped a couple late
in the season, but most
every great receiver has
dropped some at some
point.”
As that guy on the wall
keeps reminding him,
Johnson needs to be a
leader.
“We’ve got a really
young receiving corps,”
he said. “They can
make plays. I’ve seen
them in practice. They’re
learning very fast. Before
you know it, it’s not just
me they’re going to be
looking at.”
