Rushville's Johnson Fights for Time at ISU

4 comments so far August 12, 2008 by Brandon Vogel

I grew up in Western Nebraska. Not North Platte or Kearney or Valentine, but real Western Nebraska, nearly equidistant from the Wyoming and South Dakota borders Western Nebraska, just 1000 feet short of being a mile high Western Nebraska.

Most people just call it the sticks and that's fine, I don't need to wax poetic about it to either prove or disprove that notion. The fact is, there aren't a lot of people out there and that's part of the beauty of it but when it comes to producing Division I football talent, population density is your friend. That's what makes the fact that Rushville's Brandon Johnson is entering his senior year at Iowa State that much more remarkable.

I can count on two hands the number of guys from the Panhandle of Nebraska who I can remember going on to play Division I football over the past 10-20 years. Inevitably I'm forgetting some people, and feel free to remind me of the omissions, but here's who I remember:

• Terry Connealy: The biggest success story of the group. Went from his Sandhills ranch near Hyannis to winning a national title at Nebraska.
• John Kraay: Went from Bridgeport to Harvard where he also competed in track as a shot putter.
• Mike Wahlstrom: Committed to Wyoming before transferring to his hometown school, Chadron State.
• Ben Smith: The Chadron QB was originally set to join the Cowboys as well but followed Joe Tiller to Purdue where he had the bad luck to be in the same class as Drew Brees.
• Drew Wood: Yet another Chadron Cardinal. He played linebacker at Colorado State.
• Paul Hanks: Went from my alma mater, Hemingford High, to the defensive front at CSU.
• Joe Planansky: Another HHS grad, Joe originally enrolled at KSU before transferring to Chadron State and getting a cup of coffee with the Miami Dolphins as a tight end.

Kelly Stouffer: Fellow Rushville Longhorn, went to CSU then had a four-year NFL career wth the Seattle Seahawks. Currently does tv work for the Minnesota Vikings and Versus.

In terms of recent historical precedent, Johnson has already bucked a pretty big trend just to get to college football's highest level and stay there for all four years. But now, according to ISU's most recent depth chart, he's fighting for a starting slot in his senior season after starting every game of the 2007 season at center.

Personally, I had high hopes that Johnson would retain his job as center and Omaha North's Phillip Bates would beat out Austin Arnaud for the starting QB job (it's reportedly still a race) so the Cyclones could have an entirely Nebraskan battery for 2008.

Overall the Cyclones have five Good Lifers on the roster and that's why I'll almost always root for Iowa State in a game not involving the actual Cornhuskers--that and they're typically an underdog--but it's an era that could be coming to an end.

My question when watching ISU squads of the past three or four years was always whether or not the Nebraska players I saw in cardinal and gold could've been contributing to the scarlet and cream. Now, I have to wonder if that question won't become less pressing given the new staff's focus on recruiting the state and the rebuilding of the walk-on program.

Either way, whether rooting for Nebraska or Nebraska kids--on every Saturday but one, mind you--my congratulations go out to Brandon Johnson. However the depth chart works out in the end, from one Western Nebraskan to another, you made it. Wish it could've been in red, but nobody holds it against you because it wasn't.

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