Groveton's Lane Johnson's unlikely journey to top NFL Draft prospect

[sawemoff]

2012
Played in all 13 games with 11 starts at left tackle ... named All-America Third Team by CBSSports.com ... named All-Big 12 Second Team by coaches ... Academic All-Big 12 First Team.

2011
Started 12 of 13 games at right tackle ... had 10 knockdowns against Kansas ... did not play vs. Tulsa ... Academic All-Big 12 first team.

2010
Began the season at tight end ... switched to defensive end midway through the season.

2009
Redshirted.

At Kilgore College
Played quarterback for one season before working out at tight end in the spring of 2009 ... completed 32 of 61 attempts for 510 yards and three touchdowns ... also had 17 carries for 24 yards and one TD.

High School
Played quarterback and was an honorable mention all-state selection at the position ... named all-district ... also competed in track, finishing fourth in the shot put at the 2008 Texas State Championships.

 

-----

 

Kilgore College football coach J.J. Eckert welcomed a 6-foot-6, 202-pound quarterback into his program five years ago, expecting that he'd probably add some weight to his lanky frame.

 

“When he walked in here on his recruiting trip, I'm looking at him and I see these big shoulders, and I see a guy that's physically gonna develop,” Eckert said. “He would be the first one to breakfast check in the mornings. He'd get in there and eat two, three plates.”

Thus began Lane Johnson's unlikely football journey that included three position changes, an extra 100 pounds of mass and stops in Kilgore, Texas, Norman and now New York, where Thursday he'll join NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on stage as a top-10 draft selection.

Just two springs ago, Johnson struggled through a brief identity crisis when Oklahoma coaches asked him to play offensive tackle. The lifelong skill-position player resisted, unsure if he could accept the “big ugly” label.

“I'd been playing a skill position my whole life, and then to have the idea put in my head of me playing offensive line was kind of a shell-shock deal,” Johnson said. “It took a while for me to accept that and get it through my head.”

Nowadays, Johnson still can't quite believe the past two years' remarkable twists and turns. Neither can Eckert, who had no idea just how special — and big — that skinny quarterback would one day become.

Johnson started only a few games at quarterback his freshman season, completing 32 of 61 passes for 510 yards and three touchdowns. But one of his most memorable moments under center came in the fourth quarter of a midseason contest against traditional junior-college powerhouse Trinity Valley.

With Kilgore leading by three points late in the third quarter, Johnson faked a handoff before executing a perfect naked bootleg, sprinting untouched for a 16-yard touchdown that essentially sealed his team's victory.

Johnson gained around 40-50 pounds from the time he arrived at Kilgore to spring football practices in 2009. One day, as the team worked in a goal-line set, Eckert asked Johnson to fill in for an injured tight end.

“He said, ‘What do I do?'” Eckert recalled. “I said, ‘Just escape C-gap, and if you see somebody, hit 'em.' Well, he hits a linebacker and pancakes him, and the rest is kind of history.”

One Division I coach was there that day watching practice, and offered Johnson a scholarship almost immediately. Over the next few weeks and months, word spread to other programs, eventually landing Johnson offers from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU, among others.

Johnson picked the Sooners, who were eager to find a solid replacement for departed All-America tight end Jermaine Gresham, and ended his junior-college career after only one season.

“I just thought they were just getting him ready for life after Gresham,” Eckert said. “He's a big-bodied guy, and they've always had a lot of success with tight ends there.”

After redshirting in 2009, Johnson switched from tight end to defensive end midway through the 2010 season, but never seemed right for either spot.

Then during spring football 2011, OU coaches approached the vagabond big man and asked him to try offensive tackle.

[topher805]

I'm sure there haven't been too many people go from All-State Quarterback to a top-5 draft pick as an offensive lineman...

Got a chance to interview him a few weeks ago when he was in Groveton filming something for NFL Films. Told me he just "ate his way into the position" when he moved to lineman.

Good kid. I wish him well...

[vonerick]

good story

[KirtFalcon]

hope he does well

 

east texas is proud of what he has accomplished

[topher805]

2008 Crockett graduates, Ja'Gared Davis (SMU) and Willie Carter (Tulsa) signed free agent contracts with the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars respectively.

Davis is a solid inside linebacker that has a good chance to make the Texans roster.

Carter was the fourth rated fullback in the draft and will also have a chance to step in and play, blocking for MJD in Jacksonville.