When you watch Super Bowl XXXV this Sunday, be sure to keep your eye on speedy Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Patrick Johnson (#85).
After all, it wasn’t that long ago that Johnson was streaking along the sidelines of Autzen Stadium and burning the rubber off the track of Hayward Field.
Johnson left Oregon in the spring of ’98 and joined the Baltimore Ravens as their second-round pick in that year’s NFL Draft.
And now, in only his third season, he will participate in the supreme sporting event of the year when his Ravens take on the New York Giants at 3 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
Johnson has quickly become a key starter for the Ravens’ offense and is always a deep-play threat. Baltimore head coach Brian Billick nicknamed him “The Tasmanian Devil” because of his rapid speed. Johnson leads the Ravens with an 18.1-yard receiving average.
While at Oregon, Johnson compiled 3,844 all-purpose yards for his work as a receiver and returner. In track, he was an NCAA All-American sprinter in the 100- and 200-meters.
But it took awhile for Johnson to be fully appreciated as a football player and not just as a track sprinter who happened to strap on the pads in the fall.
“That’s my pet peeve,” Johnson said in the fall of 1997. “I’m disappointed that I’ve always been looked at as a track guy who plays football. But the truth is, I’m on a football scholarship. I’m a football player.”
More than three years later, with the Super Bowl looming in two days, it’d be hard to argue with Johnson on that point.