Brent Johnson discusses Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini, his former teammate at Ohio State.
He started at safety for us for two years. He’s not the tallest. He wasn’t the fastest. He certainly wasn’t the most athletic. But, by God, he knew where he was supposed to be, and he was always there.
There were people who were more athletic than he was. But nobody at that time played the position better than he did.
He pretty much ran the whole defense. He kept the linemen, linebackers and DBs in order.
He never talked about wanting to be a coach then, but you could tell he’d be a great one. He’d support everyone, even if they played a different position.
If a guy was getting chewed out by a coach, he’d tell you to relax and do your thing — don’t get caught up in that. Just focus on the task at hand. He would even talk to guys on the offense.
If he’s not a candidate to succeed Jim Tressel, Ohio State is silly. When you look at his record as a player and a coach, I don’t think you’ll find anybody who doesn’t have something very good to say about him. And I don’t think there was a school that wasn’t sad to lose him when he left.
I don’t think there could be a better choice to succeed Tressel — not in the country. Not Bob Stoops. Not Urban Meyer. Not anybody.
I’m not saying they couldn’t come in and do a great job. But I just know, from playing with Bo and the way every former player feels about his university, everyone would love to have Bo back here.
You love your own.
I know Bo’s a big defensive guy as a coach. He really wants to focus on the defense being stout and not making mistakes. Offensively, I think he’s surrounded himself with really good people.
Bo likes to do everything the right way. He doesn’t cut corners.
I don’t believe he lets any politics get in the way of who he thinks can play. You can take everything he says at his word. He’ll be accountable for what happens — whether it be good or bad.
He’s definitely an old-school coach. Pretty much everyone from Youngstown is. It’s a pretty big football city. You’ve got a lot of great coaches who came from Youngstown, like the Stoops brothers and Jim Tressel.
I just think it’s just that typical Youngstown blue-collar, hard-nose philosophy. No matter who you are — whether you’re at work or an athlete — everyone there grinds.
Bo is kind of like Eddie George. He’s one of the few people who what you see is what you get. You can take the guy for face value.
He’s pretty much cool and calm all the time. But best believe, if he’s extremely passionate about something, you will know about it in a heartbeat.
You’re going to get 100-percent honesty. He doesn’t really have time to lie or tell people stories just to get something out of them.
He’ll bring it out of you, and if you want to put forth the effort, then you’ll definitely be successful.
He has such a love and passion for the college game. He has the ability to mold kids for their entire lives.
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Brent Johnson played linebacker for Ohio State from 1989-92. He is currently a trainer for the Athletic Club of Columbus. If you are interested in setting up an appointment, feel free to contact Brent at b-fit.training@hotmail.com.
