Boise's Johnson Now A Known Commodity

Broncos running back still basking in glory of Fiesta Bowl

May 3, 2007

By Chris Huston

Special to CSTV.com from Heismanpundit.com

	Chris Huston The Heisman Pundit breaks down the top players for CSTV.com. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- 7/30: DeSean Blazing Trail Toward Heisman? 5/15: Everything You Need To Know About Heisman `07 5/3: Boise's Johnson Now A Known Commodity 4/24: Rice Looking To Cook Up Heisman Season 4/11: Achilles Ankles 3/29: What's In A Name 3/13: Spiller Running Toward Stardom 2/27: Mr. Kentucky 2/5: Heisman Material? 1/30: Sometimes Diamonds In The Rough 1/23: 2007 Top 20 Heisman Favorites 1/18: Winners and Losers From Bowl Season 12/10: Heisman Still Special Despite Change 11/29: Who's On Third? 11/15: Rest of Field Jockeys Behind Top Two 11/8: Two at the Top 11/8: Under the Weight of Great Expectations 11/1: OSU's Smith, the Heisman Stronghold 10/25: Never Too Early To Look Ahead To `07 10/18: And Then There Were Two... 10/11: Leak Drops Out 10/4: The Wrench In The Works 9/27: The Plot Thickens 9/20: Cooled Off Irons 9/13: Five Alive 9/8: Quinn Still In Among Heisman Favorites 8/31: Heisman Preview

There was a time when barely anyone knew hardly anything about Boise State football.

That included star Bronco running back Ian Johnson. 

Schools like Washington, Oregon State and Oregon recruited him during his senior season at Mark McGwire's alma mater, Damien High in La Verne, Calif. But it was Boise that swooped in at the last minute and actually offered him a scholarship and a chance to play. Being a Bronco wasn't really what he had imagined growing up, though.

"My dream school was Michigan," said Johnson, who settles in at No. 12 on the Heismanpundit.com Post-Spring Heisman Watch. "Their program isn't flashy, it's more blue collar, which is more my style.

"They are not about doing back flips into the end zone."

Neither is Johnson. He never really craved the spotlight during his recruitment - he just wanted his talents to be appreciated. That's one reason the Broncos snagged him.

"I knew next to nothing about Boise," said Johnson. "My decision to go there wasn't based on prestige.  They were actually the first team that wanted me as much as I wanted them. All the other schools that recruited me seemed to be settling for me."

Those schools are probably kicking themselves now. All Johnson did last season as a redshirt sophomore was rush for 1,742 yards and lead the nation with 25 touchdowns.  And he didn't just feast on college football plankton - he gorged himself on some big fish, too. Oregon State - the same team that later went on to beat USC - couldn't stop him, giving up 240 yards and five touchdowns to Johnson. He capped the season with 101 rushing yards against a formidable Oklahoma defense in the Fiesta Bowl.

It was that 43-42 win over the Sooners that made Boise State the darlings of college football. It wasn't just that the Broncos won. It was how they won. They overcame Oklahoma's significant talent edge with a sophisticated offensive attack that relied on guile and trickery to keep the Sooners off balance. Naturally, Johnson was at the center of it all, scoring the winning two-point conversion on a statue of liberty play that capped one of the most fantastic finishes in the history of the game. Still riding the high of the improbable victory, he marched over to the sideline, got down on one knee and proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend Chrissy Popadics as millions watched on television. Overnight, he became about as big a celebrity as Idaho has ever produced. And no backflips were needed.

Just as he had planned all along, right? Well, not really.

"Before the game, I was talking to one of the team liaisons at the Fiesta Bowl about how to propose to my girlfriend," said Johnson. "He jokingly said that I should score the winning touchdown and then go over and propose on national television. I said `Good idea', never figuring it would actually happen. Then, after the game, I was down on the sideline and Chris Meyers the sideline reporter said we were going national in five and I thought `Okay, I'm doing it.'"

Meyers almost ruined the moment by spilling the beans about the proposal as Johnson approached Popadics.

"If I wasn't a football player and on national television, we (Johnson and Meyers) might have ended up fighting," joked Johnson. "But maybe it helped, too. I didn't want her to be too shocked and when he let it out early, it gave her time to compose herself."

Of course she said yes. If it sounds like a good movie, stay tuned. The film rights to the 2006 Boise State football story has been bought and a feature should be out in a couple years. Though it's hard to see how the silver screen can do justice to what Boise did in 2006, Johnson thinks he can help.  

"I am pushing for Kate Beckinsale to play Chrissy," said Johnson. "I think they are spitting images.  Everyone says I should be played by Cuba Gooding, Jr."

What more could a lightly-recruited back out of the 909 area code wish for? Right now, everything is gravy.

"I never saw all this coming," said Johnson. "It was a bit of a shock. Coming out of high school, I thought `Okay, maybe I'll play college football.'  But to be an integral part of all this is amazing. I love it. We've still got a lot of work to do, though, and that keeps me grounded."

Don't think, though, that some of the attention hasn't gotten to him.

"One of the most exciting things about this was that my girlfriend was the No. 1 most-Googled person for the month of January, right after the Fiesta Bowl," said Johnson.

"Take that, Britney Spears!"

Indeed.  And now Johnson, buoyed by a strong season and his newfound fame, heads into the 2007 season as a darkhorse contender for the Heisman.

"I suppose the stage is set," said Johnson. "But you still have to perform. I haven't put much thought into the Heisman. If I were to get it, I'd give it to my offensive line. They could have it for the first month. I'd just have to make sure no one breaks it - I'd probably have to bulletproof it - before I gave it to my parents to keep."

If that seems like an unlikely scenario, consider that nothing appears to be unlikely where Johnson is concerned. He's learned not to underestimate the power of fate.  

"Everything happens for a reason," he said. "If I had gone to Oregon State, I never would have met my fiancé, right? I'm just glad to be a part of what's happening here at Boise.

"The Bronco Nation is growing."