Chris Johnson
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chris Johnson (Born Christopher Duan Johnson on September 23, 1985 in Orlando, Fla) is a multiple-threat playmaker for the East Carolina Pirates in the NCAA college football tournament. Johnson, playing as a running back, wide receiver, and kick returner for the Pirates for the past four seasons, has been rated as the top returning all-purpose back in Conference USA and as one of the top kick returners in the league. The Orlando, Fla. native emerged as the Pirates' leader in kickoff returns and all-purpose yards while at the same time turning out impressive numbers through his ground work. Johnson's quickness and agility has also been of good use in ECU's passing game as he became one of the Pirates' main source of production in their air attack starting from his junior year. Johnson however gained a lot of accolades for his work as a special teams member, getting the nod from both the coaches and the media as C-USA's Special Teams Player-of-the-Year for 2007 after leading the league and ranking no.15 in the nation in terms of kickoff return average. He was also named by the coaches to the All-C-USA First Team as a kick returner and to the All-C-USA second team as a running back. Johnson is also considered as one of the top prospects at running back in the 2008 NFL Draft.
Contents |
[edit] Personal Life
Chris is a communications major at ECU.
[edit] High School
Johnson attended Olympia High School where he was named by the Super-Prep Magazine as among the top-rated players in Florida. Johnson was one of the most athletic players in high school, recording prep power numbers of 265 (clean-lift) and 315 (bench-press), and a 10.62 time in the 100-meter sprint. As a track athlete, he ran anchor leg on fastest 4x100 relay team in the nation and won Golden South and Golden West national titles. In the football field, he amassed 1000+ yards on the ground as a junior and managed to score 8 TDs the following year despite sitting out in four games because of injury. Johnson was named MVP during the Orange County All-Star Game.
[edit] College
[edit] 2004
Johnson had a high-impact debut as a true freshman, playing in 11 of East Carolina's games with 7 starts. He made his collegiate debut against West Virginia where he had 2 carries for 7 yards while averaging 20 yards per kickoff return. He had his first start the following game against Wake Forest, highlighted by an 86-yard scamper (2nd-longest rush ever by an ECU freshman and seventh longest overall) and his first collegiate rushing touchdown as well as his first collegiate catch for 5 yards. Johnson led his team in rushing in only his third game, running for 29 yards in 5 carries. He made his second career start (at tailback) against Louisville but recorded his career-highs the following game in carries, rushing yards, and TD runs of 31, 158, and 2 respectively as he led the Pirates over Tulane for the team's first win of the season. In his third career start, Johnson once again established career highs, but on the receiving end, after catching 7 passes for 73 yards and 1 receiving TD with a 29-yard long catch. Later in the season-finale against N.C. State, Johnson was limited to 15 rushing yards but picked up 144 on 6 kick-off returns in a loss to the Wolfpack.
He ended the year as the Pirates' leading rusher (561 yards), and kick-off returner (765 yards, no.74 in the nation) and racked up a team best 1,562 all-purpose yards which was also no.24 in the nation. He also led the team in carries (134) and rushing TDs (5) and was the no.2 receiver in the team with 32 catches for 236 yards. His explosive maiden year saw him set a total of eight ECU freshman single game or single-season records not including his streak of 10 games with a catch that is recorded as the longest active streak on the team. Johnson went on to be named as part of the Conference USA All-Freshman squad both as a running back and kickoff return specialist.
[edit] 2005
There was no sophomore jinx at the side of ECU's starting tailback after turning out another solid performance as a second-year player starting with his season debut against Duke where he rushed 20 times for a team-high 65 yards and caught 4 passes for 48 yards including his then career-long 33 yard reception. He went on and established season-highs of 25 carries against Southern Methodist, 106 yards rushing (third career triple digit rushing game) and 3 scoring runs against Marshall, 7 catches (a career-high) against West Virginia, and 129 receiving yards (a career-high) against Rice, with all those games producing wins for ECU.
By the end of the season, Johnson was once again the team's leading rusher with 684 yards and 6 scoring runs on 176 carries and placed as the team's second leading receiver with 356 yards on 35 catches. The team's all-purpose yards leader (1,499) also established a new ECU career record for most receptions by running back (67) but had streak of games with a reception halted three weeks before the season-finale. Johnson was also honored by the team with the Janet Overton Decal Award.
[edit] 2006
Johnson came off from a neck surgery in the off-season that forced him to sit out the team's spring practice. Nonetheless, Johnson played in 12 of the team's 13 games (sat out a game due to toe injury which snapped his 18-game consecutive starts) with a starting role on the team's first four outings. Johnson recorded season-highs of 22 carries, 106 rushing yards and 2 TDs (against Memphis) and 5 receptions for 45 yards against Southern Methodist. His first career kickoff return score (96 yards, 6th longest return in school history, heralded as part of ESPN's Top 10 Plays-of-the- Day) happened in an overtime win over Southern Miss. He made his postseason debut against South Florida in the Papajohns.com Bowl catching a pass for 8 yards and returning 4 kick-offs for 58 yards in a losing cause against the Bulls.
Johnson once again led the team in all-purpose yards on 314 rushing yards, 176 receiving yards, and 482 kick-off return yards for a grand total of 972. Among his postseason accolades include a spot as a kick return specialist in the All-C-USA first team and a C-USA Special Teams Player of the Week honors. Johnson also ranked no.4 in the league and no.43 in the nation with his kick return average of 23 while also setting a new school record for receiving yards by a running back with 768.
[edit] 2007
Johnson returned for his final year of eligibility as one of the best all-purpose backs and kick returners in the league. He began the season with a 10-carry, 29-yard, 1-TD effort in a loss to Virginia Tech and went on to finish the regular season with 1,200 rushing yards on 208 carries with 16 TDs. He had twin-digit numbers in carries in 11 of the 12 games he played and had atleast 2 receptions in 10 of 12 games. He also posted career-highs of 301 rushing yards and a career-best 4 scoring TDs in a win against Memphis. Johnson went on to become the nation's active leader in career-all-purpose yardage and kickoff return yardage, and is C-USA's leader (no.15 in the nation) in kick-off return average in his senior season at 28.5 per return. He has also set or tied eight school and two conference records for kickoff returns and KOR yardage and owns two of the top three single-game all-purpose yardage performance in the FBS during his final year. For his efforts, Johnson was recognized as the 2007 Conference USA Coaches Special Teams Player of the Year and made it to the All-C-USA First Team as a kick returner and with the Second Team as a running back.
[edit] Highlights
| Chris Johnson returns a kick-off 96 yards into the endzone for the 6th longest return in school history in a win against Southern Miss. |
[edit] Achievements
- 2007 Rivals.com New Jersey Top 30
- 2007 C-USA Special Teams Player-of-the-Year (Coaches)
- 2007 C-USA Special Teams Player-of-the-Year (Media)
- 2007 First-team All C-USA kick returner (Coaches)
- 2007 First-team All C-USA kick returner (Media)
- 2007 Second-team All C-USA running back (Coaches)
- 2006 First-team All-Conference USA
- 2005 Janet Overton Decal Awardee
- 2004 Conference USA All-Freshman - running back
- 2004 Conference USA All-Freshman - kick-off returner
- 2004 ECU's Outstanding Newcomer-of-the-Year
