For someone who arrived on the Hilltop with as much hype as wide receiver Darius Johnson did last year — some expected him to have the biggest impact of any newcomer to the SMU football team a year ago — the 2009 season was a mixture of team success and individual disappointment.

Darius Johnson said that despite losing two of the top three receivers from 2009, this year's offense could be even better (photo by Webmaster).

Johnson got on the field in his first game as a Mustang, and before the first half was over, he found his way into the end zone for the first time as a college player, scoring on a diving catch in the middle of the end zone with 2:45 left in the second quarter of the Ponies’ 31-23 victory over Stephen F. Austin.

That was the good news. The bad news was that he landed hard on his left shoulder while making the catch, suffering a hairline fracture of the collarbone on the play.

“I tried to play through it,” Johnson said. “Then, in the third quarter, I fell again and came out — turns out I had a hairline fracture, so I didn’t need surgery, but it also separated from the sternum.”

Head coach June Jones could have told Johnson to sit out the rest of the season, and Johnson almost certainly would have been granted a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA because of the injury. But Johnson returned to the field, only to disappear again when he was suspended for a couple of games.

“I missed a couple of treatments for my collarbone when I was out, so when I came back, I had two strikes on me,” Johnson said. “Then I got one more and I was suspended.

“Honestly, I was a little surprised. I thought they had let me slide a couple of times, but apparently they didn’t.”

Johnson said he was well aware of Jones’ “three strikes” policy, and knew that fellow receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Aldrick Robinson had been suspended for the final two games of the 2008 season. The fact that he didn’t fulfill all of his responsibilities, he said, was a result of the same thing that prevented him from working out hard in the offseason when he was in high school.

“I was lazy — horribly lazy,” he said. “It didn’t make sense. The high school coaches let me slide, because I could still make plays, and didn’t really have to work that hard. That carried over, I guess.

Darius John said he has gained 11 pounds since last season, to 180, and feels faster than ever (photo by Webmaster).

“Now I have a different mind-set. This is a business. In college, football is a business. They (the coaches) are going to find the best players and put them out there. If I don’t do what I’m supposed to do, they’ll find guys who will. I know that now.”

Johnson’s final performance in 2009 was not the stuff of which legends are made: in SMU’s 45-10 rout of Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl, he caught one pass for minus-three yards. But he said that his injury and the discipline he received from Jones have sparked a change in his attitude and approach to his offseason workouts.

“I work out more now than I ever have,” Johnson said. “I work out more with (quarterback) Kyle (Padron) than I did last year. I try to get out there every day with him, and we’re getting more comfortable with each other. I knew Kyle could throw, but working with him every day, you can see how good he’s going to be.”

Johnson acknowledged that the wide receiver position will undergo something of a facelift this season with two of the Ponies’ top three receivers form 2009 — Emmanuel Sanders and Terrance Wilkerson — not in the lineup. Johnson said he expects to join holdovers Aldrick Robinson and Cole Beasley in the starting lineup, but said the Ponies have several other receivers who can perform at a high level if given the chance.

“Bradley Haynes and Chayse Joubert are going to surprise a lot of people,” Johnson said. “Brad played some last year, but not that much — a lot of people don’t know how good he is — and Chayse was redshirting, so nobody got to see him play. But he’s got good size, and he can really run, too. He’ll make a lot of plays.”

Sanders had the most receptions on the team last year with 98, and Wilkerson was third on the team with 42 (Robinson was second with 47 catches, while Beasley was fourth with 40). Yet despite the absence of Sanders and Wilkerson and their 140 catches, Johnson said this year’s passing game might be even harder to defend than last season’s version.

“We should be more balanced this year,” Johnson said. “It should work both ways. Last year, ‘E’ (Sanders) was our main guy. Everyone knew that if we needed a play, he was the first choice.

“This year, the passing game should be a lot more even. Who do you cover? Al (Robinson) is the senior, the speed guy. But Beas (Beasley) is getting a lot better, and he’s a lot stronger — that little man can bench 315 pounds now. Bradley Haynes is stronger than any corner out there. We have a lot of guys who can make plays.”

Johnson said that Jones’s Run-and-Shoot system requires six or seven receivers who are ready to play to operate at its peak level; the Mustangs, he said, have that.

Darius Johnson fractured his left collarbone while making this diving touchdown catch in the 2009 opener against Stephen F. Austin (photo by Travis Johnston).

The Ponies also have some glaring holes on offense. In addition to Sanders and Wilkerson, the unit will be without running back Shawnbrey McNeal and center Mitch Enright. Nonetheless, Johnson said he could see the offense improving over last year’s unit.

“I think we can be better than we were last year,” he said. “The reason is Kyle Padron. He has matured so much since last year. He was good last year — really good — but he’s going to be a lot better this year. He understands the offense more, he understands the plays more, and he knows more plays.”

With McNeal’s departure to the NFL, the running game is one of the larger question marks on the team. Will senior Chris Butler shoulder the load in 2010? Or will the coaches turn to some combination of Zach Line, Ryan Moczygemba and Bryce Lunday? And SMU has two heralded freshmen coming in: Kevin Pope and Darryl Fields. While many teams try to establish the running game to set up the pass, Johnson points out that the roles are reversed in the SMU offense.

“Everybody knows we’re going to pass the ball,” he said. “But if we pass the ball efficiently, that will open up the running game. Then defenses won’t know what to do. When you get the run and the pass going, we can be tough to stop.”

Johnson said he has added 11 pounds since last season, now tipping the scales at 182 pounds over his 5-10 frame. The extra muscle, he said, has made him feel faster than last year.

Meanwhile, his suspension last year has taught him his lesson, Johnson said. Already Jones has had Johnson talking to incoming freshman Jeremy Johnson about “making sure he has his head on straight, and does what he needs to do.”

“I made my mistakes last year, but I won’t make them again,” he said. “There’s no reason Jeremy or anyone else should make the mistakes I made. If we’re going to be successful, we need everyone there.”