A big day for EJ in NFL

BY BEN REITER

The second-leading receiver last Sunday for the four-time world champion San Francisco 49ers used to sit across from me in Formac section. He was the referee for my B-Hoops championship IM game last year, calling a foul on my defender to allow me to complete a three-point play. His name is Eric Johnson, JE '01—known around these parts as EJ.

I've closely followed Johnson's road to the NFL since last fall. Even though he is by far the most accomplished wide receiver in Yale's history, he felt he would be too slow to be drafted to play wide out in the pros and switched to tight end, embarking on a punishing training regimen to add weight. When I saw him in March in the Lanman Center, the kid looked huge. "Think you'll be drafted?" I asked him. "Hope so," he said.

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY Eric Johnson, JE '01, tallied 34 yards in the 49er's 16-13 win over the Falcons.

While most people just watch the first day of the draft, I was glued to the second day, waiting to hear Johnson's name. Safety Than Merrill, MC '01, went first to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (he was later cut at the end of the preseason and picked up by Chicago). Then, mere moments later, Gene Upshaw made the announcement: "With the 24th pick of the seventh round of the 2001 National Football League draft, the San Francisco 49ers select Eric Johnson, tight end from Yale University."

At first, it seemed as if the pick might have been a throwaway. It gradually came out that Bill Walsh—the 'Niners' former coach and guru who is known around the league as "the genius"-was so enamored with Johnson that he wanted to draft him as early as the fourth round, but the team's staff made him wait. I watched as many 'Niners highlights as I could get my hands on this summer, sometimes catching glimpses of Johnson's no. 82, cheering for it just as I used to cheer his no. 21 at the Yale Bowl.

In August, I came across respected football writer Peter King's column on CNNSI.com. Under the heading of "Opinion/factoid that might be interesting only to me," King wrote, "The 49ers might just start Eric Johnson at tight end, someday if not right away. I bet he's the only Yale golf team member to be a candidate for a starting job in the NFL. Golf team. Yale. That's right. And [Head Coach Steve] Mariucci absolutely loves him."

King pointed out that Johnson's presence on the team was an oddity, but also something more: the 'Niners realized, as most Yalies have known for the past few years, that the kid can play. He's a smart route runner; his hands are a gift from God—soft as putty, and able to catch anything. He supposedly still has to learn how to block, but I'm fairly sure he'll be able to-this is, after all, a player who was called into punting duty halfway through his sophomore season and ended up breaking Yale records.

I drafted Johnson in the last round of my fantasy football draft this year, more as a sentimental pick than anything else, since I already had the Chiefs' Tony Gonzalez, far and away the league's best tight end. After last Sunday's performance, however, I may have to rethink things. Johnson caught four passes for 34 yards, including three first down grabs, from the 'Niners' All-Pro quarterback Jeff Garcia, helping San Francisco to a 16-13 win over Atlanta. It wasn't a stunning debut—surely nothing like the games Johnson used to turn in while wearing Yale blue-but it was one of the top rookie performances of the day, easily surpassing the two catches and nine total yards amassed by Chicago's David Terrell, the first receiver taken in the draft.

I don't want to be overly optimistic, especially based only upon Johnson's performance in a single game. Still, it seems as if he has what it takes to be a starter in the NFL-sooner, rather than later. His skills mesh perfectly with the 'Niners' West Coast offensive scheme, and we all know he has the heart. Besides, his 21 catches in 1999's version of The Game were only three off from the NCAA record held by another guy from a small-time Division I-AA program who went on to play in San Francisco. What was that player's name? Jerry Rice.

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