Johnson Runs Off His Mouth, But Not Cougs’ Pass Defense

Mike Price has been known to occasionally bring in a guest speaker to help motivate his team with a pre-game pep talk.

But the guy who showed up before Saturday’s game against Southern California wasn’t scheduled - or welcomed.

Trojans wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, a legendary trash-talker who burned Price’s Washington State team with three touchdown catches last fall, found his way past security, infiltrated the WSU locker room and leveled a string of in-your-face comments at WSU’s defense.

“He came in and said how he didn’t watch no film of us all week,” said linebacker Chris Hayes. “He said he had more important things to do than just watch film on us.

“But that’s Keyshawn. That’s just Keyshawn doing his talkin.”’

Price wasn’t so tolerant.

“If that’s the way an All-American acts, then … ,” he said, letting his comment die diplomatically.

Although WSU lost 26-14, Johnson’s brief appearance might have had some motivational effect.

The Cougars let the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Johnson loose long enough to catch nine passes, but those catches produced only 85 yards and no TDs and none resulted in a gain of more than 17 yards.

Price explained that the Cougars defended Johnson by bumping him with cornerbacks and forcing him inside where safeties could help with the double-team.

“None of that matters to me,” Johnson said of WSU’s defensive strategy. “It didn’t take anything from me. It just helped our team.”

Price praised the coverage efforts of Shad Hinchen and Brian Walker on the corners. Hinchen, who was giving up 5 inches and 30 pounds to Johnson, was not intimidated. “I was nervous, but I was never scared,” Hinchen said. “He’s a great football player and I respect Keyshawn Johnson. Me and him talked a couple of times, but neither of us was going to get out of our game plan.”

Johnson, who wears No. 3, appeared frustrated after several passes thrown his way were closely and, in some cases, physically defended by Hinchen (No. 15).

“He really beat me up,” Johnson said. “I didn’t get no calls today. (No.) 3’s supposed to get those calls. Now, if I’m on the reverse side and I push No. 15 down, he can’t get them, but 3 is supposed to get them.”

Defensive review

Torey Hunter, a four-year starter at cornerback and a senior member of last year’s WSU defense, attended Saturday’s game and was a sideline guest of his alma mater.

Hunter, a third-round draft pick of Houston in last April’s NFL draft, took advantage of the Oilers’ bye week to watch his former teammates.

“You can’t expect everything to fall into place like it did last year,” said Hunter, who is playing mainly on special teams for the Oilers. “But when they started playing with a sense of urgency they did a lot of good things.

“You just can’t always put yourself in a position where your backs are against the wall. You have to start making things happen early in the game. Once they start playing with urgency on every play instead of just when they need to, they’ll be all right.”

Damage to Darling

Junior middle linebacker James Darling, the Cougars’ leading tackler, suffered a hip injury on the first series of downs and was sidelined.

Darling was replaced by promising sophomore Phillip Glover, who came up big with seven tackles, a pass defense and a fumble recovery.

“He’s been our quarterback in

there,” defensive coordinator Bill Doba said of Darling. “But Phillip Glover played very well.”

Not-so-secret agents

A subplot to the USC-WSU game was the absence of Trojans Shawn Walters, Errick Herrin and Israel Ifeanyi - all of whom are currently suspended pending the completion of an investigation regarding rule-breaking payments from an agent.

Herrin and Ifeanyi were both defensive starters, but the biggest loss may be that of Walters, who was the team’s leading rusher the past two seasons.

Reports suggest that his USC career is over and he is negotiating with the Canadian Football League.

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