Sept. 28, 2006

By Bill Hass
TheACC.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. - There are as many schemes to stop wide receiver Calvin Johnson as there are defensive coordinators on Georgia Tech's schedule.

The third year into Johnson's career, the one thing they probably have in common is a splitting headache.

The 6-foot-5, 235-pound junior brings a combination of size, speed and skills that few receivers possess - or have ever possessed. This Saturday, it's Virginia Tech's turn to try to contain Johnson.

"He's just a special player," said coach Frank Beamer of the 11th-ranked Hokies. "You look at it and we don't have any defensive backs who are 6-5, 235. He's fast. And then he's got good hands, he makes some great catches.

"So it's a mismatch from the get-go and sometimes you think you have him covered and you don't have him covered."

Johnson has faced Virginia Tech twice. As a freshman, he caught four passes for 51 yards and a touchdown in a 34-20 loss. And last year, even though the Yellow Jackets absorbed a 51-7 defeat in Blacksburg, Johnson still caught five passes for 123 yards and a score.

"He caught a deep one and caught a TD pass on us and made good catches on both of them," Beamer said. "We had people right there; he just made good catches."

Johnson has caught 19 passes for 311 yards and five touchdowns this season, averaging 16.4 yards per catch. Among active NCAA players, his career totals rank fifth in yards per catch at 16.8, ninth in yards per game at 72.7 and tied for ninth in TDs with 18.

There is considerably more at stake Saturday than Johnson's stats. The 24th-ranked Yellow Jackets are 1-0 in the Coastal Division and the Hokies are 2-0. Since all other teams in the division have at least one loss, the winner will be alone in first place.

"Everybody is expecting them to be in the ACC Championship (again)," Johnson said, "so it would be good for us to go up there and knock them off so that we'd be in the driver's seat."

The game is being played in Blacksburg for a second straight year, so Johnson knows what's in store. Last season, he said, the crowd affected his team.

"We lost focus, lost concentration, and things just kind of went bad for us," Johnson said.

"We know what to expect when we go up there, we know the crowd is going to be in the game, and we know that to get to where we need to go, we need to take the crowd out of the game early."

Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey doesn't know exactly what the Hokies will devise, but teams try so many ways to contain Johnson that Gailey counters with new looks every week.

"And that's a double-edged sword in some respects," Gailey said, "because you're trying to go out and execute new things that you haven't really (practiced) a great deal, and trying to do it against good football teams is not easy.

"But if you leave in the same plays, you're going to see so many different schemes and looks that that gets hard to execute as well. So it's probably better to move him around and give them new looks, give them something to think about each week."

Johnson likes the way the Georgia Tech coaches move him around.

"Coach can put me anywhere at any time, so there are definitely a lot of opportunities out there," he said.

Having a veteran quarterback like senior Reggie Ball makes those moves a bit easier. Ball and Johnson have developed the kind of chemistry that keeps them on the same wavelength most of the time. Gailey said Ball is more aware of when to throw the ball to Johnson's side of the field and where he'll be.

"It happens naturally," Gailey said. "I wish we could say we spent hours working on just those two, but we don't. We spend hours working on the offensive game plan and it happens to fit that he gets single coverage and you're able to get him the football."

As good as Johnson has been, Gailey said he has gotten even better since his freshman year. He has learned to be physical against the jams at the line of scrimmage, the traffic he has to navigate and the hits he takes after catching the ball. And he reads defenses better, finding the soft spots in a zone or setting up a defender in one-on-one coverage. That makes him a tougher football player mentally, Gailey said.

While Johnson may occasionally wind up in one-on-one coverage, nobody starts a game with that defense.

"I think the least you put on him is two, then hope he doesn't out-jump you," said Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. "One thing you can't let him have is a deep ball. Sometimes you can have him covered real good and he can jump up and get it. He's a big guy that does what the little guys do, and that's a hard guy to find."

Virginia coach Al Groh, who watched Johnson catch TD passes of 58 and 66 yards against the Cavaliers last Thursday, said there are ways to stop anybody but they come at the price of leaving a defense vulnerable somewhere else.

Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, whose team has a bye this week and faces Johnson on Oct. 7, agreed on the risks involved.

"Well, he's one of the premier receivers in the country, not only in the ACC," Friedgen said. "Just a tremendous athlete. You're always going to want to try to have him doubled, and if you can get it done by doubling him then it's a good job. But that allows other people to be one-on-one, and therein lies the problem."

In other words, pass the aspirin.

Bill Hass is a long-time observer of ACC sports. His career at the Greensboro News & Record spanned 36 years, from 1969 until his retirement in March, 2006. He is now writing "Plugged in... by Bill Hass" for TheACC.com. His weekly columns will keep fans plugged in to the Atlantic Coast Conference. E-mail Bill Hass

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