During downtime at football practice, sophomore running backs Jonathan Stewart and Jeremiah Johnson joke with each other. The two stand side-by-side and neither of their smiles fade. The pressure put on them both to perform is non-existent, they don’t worry about expectations.
Instead, they laugh during practice, and their friendship keeps them from harboring any burdens.
“We met on the first day of fall camp,” Stewart said. “Automatically, we started building chemistry from then on.”
They instantly recognized that they shared similar mindsets as running backs and developed a bond, knowing that the two would be seeing a lot of each other as roommates in the dorms.
“We’re alike in a lot of ways,” Stewart said. “We’re both goofy, we both can be lazy sometimes. We’re real laid-back kind of people.”
The care-free attitude is what makes them unique. Not just their ability as football players, it’s the way their friendship doesn’t impede on their competition for the team’s bulk of the carries.
Although they both want to become better players, each carry is one the other didn’t receive.
But their friendship has never been affected by what takes place on the field.
“Football is a competitive sport in any position,” Stewart said. “We’re just out here making each other better. That’s how we look at it.”
Running backs coach Gary Campbell, who named the duo co-starters, said that a competitive nature exists between the two, but only because it’s inherent with the game of football.
“There’s competition to start,” Campbell said. “It’s not a personal thing between Jonathan and Jeremiah. Everyone wants to be the starter.”
When Stewart’s been unable to play due to injury this season, Johnson has filled in more than adequately, sometimes even out-performing Stewart who was the more heralded recruit.
But for Stewart, he never feels pressure coming at him. Even though there’s a giant billboard of the two that reads “Unstoppable,” Stewart said he ignores the hype.
Johnson came in knowing that Stewart was the bigger recruit and would likely receive more carries.
“This is where he’s from – the Northwest,” Johnson said. “I expected that.”
But heading to USC this week, there should be plenty of hype in a matchup that features Stewart and Johnson as a running back tandem that has the ability to replace former USC players Reggie Bush and LenDale White as the Pac-10’s top duo. The parallels that run between each pair exists from the way each running back complements the another.
“In that vein, they are similar to (Bush and White),” Campbell said. “Both (Stewart and Johnson) are speedy guys that can break for big runs. LenDale was more of a power kind of guy, where Reggie didn’t have a lot of power. He was more of a big-play guy than consistent running back.”
Though Stewart and Johnson have different running styles than White and Bush, Campbell believes in terms of defenses having to adjust to separate running abilities, the duos have similar qualities.
“Their running styles are very much different and (opposing teams) have to prepare for both styles. They get Jonathan knowing he’s got power and that he’s going to run over some guys and they get Jeremiah who stops them in their tracks and runs around them.”
Campbell said he knew he had something special when Stewart and Johnson arrived at Oregon and the coaching staff made a conscious effort to put more running plays into the offense to get each of them the ball more often.
“You build our offense around what you have,” Campbell said. “And if you got two guys like that and you’re not running the ball then something’s wrong with you.”
While Stewart and Johnson know they have the ability to be considered among the best running back duos in the nation, both realize they still have some growing up to do.
“We’re young still, we’re both sophomores,” Stewart said. “We still have a long way to get better and the possibility is there to be great. That’s what we strive to be.”
Johnson realizes that they have the potential to play a significant role in Oregon history. He wants them to be mentioned as one of Oregon’s greatest running duos, most recently Maurice Morris and Onterrio Smith.
“Maurice and Onterrio are great backs and part of Oregon history,” Johnson said. “That’s what Jonathan and I are trying to do.”
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