Ex-Vandal Ready To Tackle UI And Johnson Will Show Them When Oregon State Hosts Idaho

Ahmani Johnson was a talented defensive end when Idaho football coaches asked him to move roughly three yards - from defensive end to tackle.

Johnson didn’t want to, so he walked away from Idaho last year and walked on at Oregon State. This Saturday, he’d love it if Oregon State walked all over Idaho in the teams’ season opener in Corvallis.

Whether that happens remains to be seen, but Johnson still carries some bitterness from leaving the Vandals. He says he had “various reasons,” including that he wanted to play at a bigger school and move closer to his hometown of Lynnwood (Wash.).

“I really don’t want to get into that, but it (moving to tackle) was one of the reasons,” Johnson said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “I was playing a lot of different positions on defense and I didn’t know what was going to happen the next year.”

“We felt we had to get Barry (Mitchell), Ryan (Phillips) and Ahmani all on the field,” UI defensive coordinator Nick Holt said. “Ahmani was bigger than the other two, plus we thought by moving Ahmani inside, he maybe would match up on an inferior player.”

Johnson elected to transfer. That’s when some ugliness crept into the equation.

UI officials refused to release Johnson from his scholarship because they felt other players would then come and go as they pleased.

Johnson sued, and the matter was settled out of court. UI agreed to sign a release form.

“They say you’re a student first, and yet in college football, they (the school) retain your rights,” Johnson said. “They (Idaho) could have done it the easy way and just signed a piece of paper, but they sandbagged us until the fifth game.”

Johnson was ineligible until receiving his release. Afterward he saw limited time, but he earned a scholar last winter and a starting linebacker spot as a senior this fall.

The irony? He moves around a bunch in OSU’s attacking defense, similar to UI’s multi-positioning of Phillips.

For Johnson, the spice of playing Idaho pales in comparison to having earned a starting job.

“I’m more excited about the fact that I’m starting,” said Johnson, who counts Vandals linebacker Avery Slaughter as one of his closest friends. “Since day one, I’ve told my teammates, and I don’t know if they’re listening, Idaho isn’t going to roll over.”

OSU revival

It used to be an annual rite of fall in Corvallis. Pick up the preseason magazines, see the Beavers picked dead last in the Pac-10 and begin thinking about basketball season.

No longer. Pick up the Sporting News and it says OSU will finish ahead of Washington State, Arizona State and Stanford. Review last season and you’ll see OSU with wins over UCLA and WSU.

OSU coach Jerry Pettibone brought the option offense to Corvallis four years ago and success has followed, albeit slowly.

New Idaho coaches Chris Tormey and George Yarno have witnessed OSU’s emergence from afar.

Tormey, then an assistant at Washington, saw OSU driving for a possible go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter before a turnover last year. UW won 24-10, but managed only 161 yards rushing, including 69 on 21 carries by eventual NFL first-round draft pick Napoleon Kaufman.

“They’ve just become so much better at the skill positions and their defense is impressive,” Tormey said.

Don ‘Pass the Aspirin’ Shanklin

Option quarterbacks get pounded on nearly every play, whether they have the ball or not. Often they’re used at decoys, but that only adds to the punishment they take.

Meet OSU’s Don Shanklin, who missed time last year for injuries such as a broken nose, sprained foot and sprained right shoulder.

“It’s not like an ordinary drop-back quarterback,” Shanklin said. “You’re going to get hit and you have to expect it.”

Shanklin has been forecasted as second-team All-Pac-10 by several magazines. Last year, he ran for 630 yards and passed for 560 yards.

“We’re going to put it up a little more this year and that should be a tremendous help,” Shanklin said.

Shanklin may run into a former Texas neighbor on Saturday. Idaho’s Montrell Williams briefly went to the same high school as Shanklin in Amarillo before transferring.

“I knew his father; he ran a youth center. Everybody knew his father,” Williams said. “Stop him (Shanklin), really,” Williams said. “Wherever he’s at, I’m going to be there.”

, DataTimes