Heres a good article on him....
Johnson patiently waits for NFL shot
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By Nathan Summers
The Daily Reflector
Monday, January 14, 2008
Now that he no longer carries the title East Carolina running back in front of his name, Chris Johnson is biding his time until he can put a National Football League team's name in front of his.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Johnson was dissecting Boise State's defense at the Hawaii Bowl, torturing the Broncos for 408 all-purpose yards in a thrilling 41-38 ECU win. But the second the team plane pulled back into Greenville, Johnson's life started a new phase.
While there are no guarantees for Johnson — who spent last week at home in Orlando, Fla., working out before returning to ECU for the weekend's annual football banquet — his future in the NFL at this stage is more a question of where than one of if.
Johnson led the nation in all-purpose yards per game and rushed for 1,000 yards for the first time in his career as a senior, giving rise to plenty of hype about where he might be chosen in the April 26-27 draft. Now, it's up to Johnson to be ready for his big day.
That means he's already right back in training in Florida today.
"Right now, I'm just getting ready for the Senior Bowl, and I'm working hard to be a first round pick," said Johnson, who has even drawn attention from draft experts like ESPN's Mel Kiper after his heavily-decorated season that included a first-team All-America selection as a kick returner. "I'm down here right now mainly getting prepped — running routes and doing a lot of one-on-one stuff. It's still just about working hard like always."
The work routine that garnered Johnson season-long praise from ECU head coach Skip Holtz hasn't changed much.
Only now the running back and return specialist is in the company of about 40 other draft hopefuls under renowned football trainer Tom Shaw at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.
Like many others before them, the athletes at Shaw's facility hope the time they spend there will give them the necessary tools to perform at the NFL Combine Feb. 20-28. The program has certainly paid off for the 77 athletes it has helped steer into the first round of the draft.
"Right now, it's like 40 guys, almost all of them from big-time programs," Johnson said. "It's like a big competition every single day."
Johnson said players from programs like Virginia Tech, LSU, Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida and Kentucky have all converged on the Sunshine State to take in Shaw's tutelage.
After Johnson's appearance in the Jan. 26 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., his NFL training will hit full stride.
"Right now, were doing a lot of Senior Bowl prep, but after that it's going to be mainly speed work — working a lot on the 40-yard dash — and all the vertical leap work. It's going to help me out a lot."
While Johnson has all the faith in the world that Shaw can give him an edge in the draft, he doesn't have much faith in the internet world of draft dopers to predict which team will select him and in which round.
Johnson's name is certainly a popular one on many such Web sites. But the man who will have to wait and see whether he'll become a pro tailback, return man or something completely different isn't in a rush to read what is being said about him in cyberspace.
"I really don't pay much attention to it," Johnson said of the pre-draft hype. "Those sites aren't really any NFL teams. They're not NFL general managers. Any person out here can make up a draft site, but it doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. Everyone has an opinion."
And, of course, Johnson has his own opinion.
He thinks if the winter training in Florida continues to go well, Johnson will join former linebacker Robert Jones as the Pirates' only first round NFL picks. Jones was selected 24th overall in the 1992 draft by the Dallas Cowboys.
"Right now, they've got me late first round or early second," Johnson said. "After the combine, I should be up there in the first round. Pretty much all 32 teams have been at practice to watch me and to watch film of me."
GET R' DONE JERRY!!
