The Two that Made the
-Difference for the Bulls
By LANGSTO]
Donnell Johnson is 6-6 and 315
pounds. Greg Clifton is maybe 6-1 and
maybe 180 pounds, if you weighed him
with his,Johnson C. Smith uniform on.
Clifton can run the 40-yard dash in
4.2 seconds. Really.
Johnson? Well, he can run it, too.
Just don't time him.
These two are or were teammates on
the Bulls football team last season, two of
the main reasons why Smith turned around
a program that had gone 2-16-1 under two
coaches in the past two years.
The Bulls finished 5-5 this season and
had not N.C. Central made an improbable
80-yard drive in the final minute of
Smith's season-finale in Durham, N.C.,
the Bulls would've had a winning record. _
But being teammates is about all that
Clifton and Johnson had in common. Sure
they were friends but Johnson's so big, so
talented, so mean. Friends call him El
Dog! Clifton's so slim, so swift so, well,
just so darned regular. He gives hope to
those of us who watch sports. Hey, he's
just like us.
Clifton's nickname is Smoke.
And now, the two are about to take
the biggest steps in their athletic careers,
and the two could possibly gain one more
thing in common.
They could both be professional foot
ball players.
You see, this is a story about dreams.
With the NFL draft only going eight
rounds seep, very few small schools play
ers were drafted. In fact, Terrance Warren
of Hampton was the only CIAA player
drafted. He was taken in the late rounds by
^eattfet ? So^what they left, for CIAA
hopefuls, was something Ihese hopefuls
call "The Free Agent route."
It's a kin to walkii^g onto a college
team, trying to prove to the coach you're
good enough to be out there with the big
boys:, even though you don'rcome in with
a heavy reputation.
Rodney Houndshell of Virginia
Union went the free agent route, signing
with Cleveland for an undisclosed amount.
Johnson signed a $100,000 contract with
Cincinnati that paid him a $2,500 signing
bonus. And Clifton, a wide receiver,
signed with The Team That Needs Some
Wideouts, those Redskins in Washington.
Clifton when for a reported $115,000 with
a undisclosed signing bonus.
To get those long dollars, Houndshell,
Johnson and Clifton will have to make
theii' respective teams. It's not easy. One
NFL reporter at a major metropolitan
newspaper estimated that just three out of
every 10 free agents make the teams they
sign with.
Johnson, though, figures his chances
are at least 70%.
"I'm really excited," Johnson said.
"I've just got to make the team now. But
the defensive line coaches really liked me
when I worked out for them" before the
draft.
Johnson comes from a football fami
ly. His uncle, Cecil, played linebacker
with Tampa Bay. and Maybe this is John
sofTs destiny. After all, when he was
born, he was 9 pounds, 13 ounces and 23
Johnson and Clifton turned J.C. Smith into a winner.
1/2 inches long. He was so big that his
mother, Mildred Johnson, injured her hack
while trying to produce him.
And Johnson, through the years, has
continued to grow. "His feet grew so fast
when he was growing up," Mildred John
son says, "that 1 just felt like cutting his
feet off sometimes."
If Johnson can make the Bengals, he
won't have to wwrry about shoe sizes or
what brand of shoes he wears for that mat
ter. And if he does, and he says he will
make the team, he already knows what
he's going to do.
"This is my chance, well, it's my first
chance," he said. "I'll do the best I can.^
It'll give me a chance to help out my fami
ly, you know?" Yeah, we know.
Letters
Regarding the so-called alumni rum
blings, I don't believe that an Alcornite
would stoop low enough to conspire with
B. Duane to try and get rid of me. I know
that conspirators make some strange bed
fellows, but an Alcornite would have to
look up to see the toe of a footless snail to
conspire with B. Duane.
B. Duane* s Inquirer approach to make
a point, giving no fellow conspirator's
names, makes his conclusions look like
Inquirer conclusions, as all 1-i-e-s!
What Alcornite would conspire with a
person who implies that only a Caucasian
mind can get a job done? What Alcornite
would conspire with a person who still
thinks white is right and black get back?
Only one looking up at that snail's toe,
and I don't believe that for a minute!
As for the push to get white SIDs into
the SWAC, B., that is another 1-i-e! The
last white SID in the SWAC, at Alabama
State, was replaced by a black, Peter For
est, in December. She couldn't keep stats,
didn't know how to layout press guides,
couldn't write sports articles, couldn't do
anything. She lasted only three months, B.
Duane.
B., did you know that there are black
SIDs at predominately white institutions?
Just call Old Dominion when you get the
time. But, I forgot, your opinions aren't
based on fact, just emotional bigotry.
For B. Duane to say that only a white
spokesman qualifies as a 'real SID' is a
disgrace to the integrity of all black SID's
in the USA and also to the Vicksburg Post.
How can they have so narrow minded a
person on their staff representing them.
WhQ told B. about a push to get white
players? The push is to get the best avail
able athlete. When McNair was recruited,
do you think ASU would have turned him
down to sign an non-black of lesser talent?
Get with the program B. Duane!
I'm so glad that one of my brothers,
Paul Howard Jr. in Atlanta, is a lawyer. 1
do believe that a law suit against B. Duane
is in order. To call me less-than-adequate
is slander Mr. B. Unless I get an apology,
or unless B. is reprimanded in some way
by the Post superiors, we'll just have to
meet in court, and we won't be playing
basketball.
from page 3
B. says McNair's stats are due to him
passing a lot. Well smart person, he is a
quarterback! Ty Metmer was a quarter
back. Ware at Houston was a quarterback.
McNair at this stage in his career ranks
above them, and they won the Heisman.
Duane's stats on McNair are a pack of
l-i-e-s! McNair had 29 touchdown passes
in '92, not 27 passes intercepted. He had
only 15 picked off. B. Duane can't make a
potfrt without distorting the truth, in-other
words, lying.
B., I talk to the pro scouts who rate
the quarterbacks and others. McNair to
them is another Randall Cunningham or
Steve Young. The only person rating Eric
Zeire or Heath Shuler over McNair is B.
Duane. And his opinion doesn't matter to
the SWAC, nor true sports fans, nor the
scouts, nor the voting sportswriters nor
Alcornites.
Duane didn't cover a Brave game in
*92 that I can recall. He didn't cover a bas
ketball game or a baseball game. How can
he write about what he hasn't seen? He
hasn't even seen McNair and he's 50 min
utes away from Lorman.
I hope B. speaks for only his misguid
ed self and not the entire sports depart
ment of the Post. If the so-called 'home'
newspaper can't be positive about the Uni
versity athletic program, then we sure
don't need that person with the poison pen
spreading the negative at our events.
Finally, B., my plan was derived from
information obtained from fellow SID's at
GEorgia, Southern Cal and Notre Dame. I
rely on ideas from fellow SID's who have
promoted Heisman candidates. B. Duane's
lies are drawn from airwaves.
Alcornites should know that B.
Duwane is the same reporter who cares
nothing about Alcorn possibly closing.
That came up in a Peace Pipe Preview
press conference in Vicksburg, and his
only remark was about Steve quarterback -
ing afterwards up at Ms. State.
No one can convince me that an
Alcornite would conspire with a person
who doesn't care if the University fails to
exist.
Gus Howurd-SID