continued from page with Minnesota ….

continued from page

with Minnesota and two with Dallas.

“Playing for Gruden was an interesting challenge,” Brad says, “He made us believe. We stayed healthy and won the close games, which isalwaysimportant. We were hungry. We could score points and our defense stopped everybody.”

He can still recite the playbook verbiage: “Shift green, left west F short spire, U banana Z overhead.” And, “green right, close14, blast check 97 Seattle, spider 2 banana.” With some coordinators, they install the plays early morning and you don’t see them again till 5:00 in the afternoon,” he says. “You were with Gruden all day long. You agreed upon the plays, you debated the plays, but on Sunday you were on the same page.”

Johnson loved the interaction, he loved training camp and practice. “I was grateful to be playing the game and practice, to me, was fun.” That is why the game remains fun today as he coaches the quarterbacks at Oconee CountyHighSchool. He loves what he is doing.

Even when he drives through the night 596 miles for LSU games. There is little rest on Saturday during the day before a night game in Baton Rouge. Then it is an all-night drive back home in time for a quarterback meeting on Sunday afternoon. His take on his routine: “It’s fun.”

Back at Black Mountain in the late eighties, given the opportunity, he would have signed up for his journey without hesitation.