USC football: RoJo tries to recapture his mojo

November 24th, 2009, 9:00 am · Post a Comment · posted by Michael Lev, staff writer

If Damian Williams can’t play Saturday, USC most likely will need a big game from Ronald Johnson to defeat UCLA.

Those performances have been few and far between in a season Johnson has found to be less than satisfying.

Since returning from a broken clavicle, the junior receiver has 18 catches for 222 yards and two touchdowns in five games. But aside from his six-catch, 99-yard, one-TD performance vs. Oregon State, Johnson hasn’t made the impact he’d hoped to make.

“Up and down,” Johnson said when asked to describe his season so far. “Coming back was kind of difficult … just trying to get through it.”

Johnson said he has felt a little bit “off” since returning, never quite capturing the focus or regaining the conditioning he had before getting hurt in the final preseason scrimmage.

“I’m not the same as I was before the season. That’s where I want to get to,” he said.

“Next year I’m going to bring something different to the table. I just can’t wait to have this offseason to work myself back and get to the point where I can make big plays and be the playmaker I was.”

Johnson’s average per catch is down 5 yards, from 17.3 to 12.3. (Interestingly, USC’s overall average of 13.4 is almost identical to last season’s 13.3.) If his spirits seem down, rest assured Johnson won’t carry that onto the field in USC’s final three games.

“I’m just going to put it all on the line,” he said, “and give it everything I have.”

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