ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 29, 1996 TAG: 9612310035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MIAMI
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
VIRGINIA TECH PLAYER Loren Johnson won't have to sneak into Pro Player Stadium for this game.
Loren Johnson might not make a good coach or athletic director.
When people in those jobs schedule homecoming games, they usually play a Kent, Vanderbilt, Tulane or Oregon State.
Johnson is playing Nebraska.
``It's a dream come true,'' said Johnson, 10th-ranked Virginia Tech's starting cornerback, who hails from suburban Miramar. ``I've seen the Orange Bowl a bunch of times. I never thought I'd play in it.''
The Hokies' date Tuesday night with the Cornhuskers will be in even more familiar surroundings to Johnson than the aging Orange Bowl, where he had about 30 family members and friends watch Tech's victory over Miami on Nov.16.
The Bowl Alliance required the Orange to move the game to Pro Player Stadium, in the northern suburbs, just south of the Dade-Broward county line. Johnson knows the neighborhood just off the Florida Turnpike.
``My parents can walk to the game,'' Johnson said. ``Let me put it this way: I was told the NCAA pays you 22 cents a mile to go from your home to a bowl game; I'll get 11 cents.''
Johnson burst into Tech football prominence at an apropos time during the 1995 season. Moved into the starting lineup after two games, he broke up a potential game-winning pass by a very familiar Miami team with 17 seconds left, preserving the Hokies' first victory over the Hurricanes.
``They never recruited me,'' Johnson said of the 'Canes. ``Never called. I was a good player, but I never fit the mold as the All-America athlete, so I wasn't good enough for them. Florida and Florida State didn't want me, either.
``It was Indiana, West Virginia, Oklahoma, North Carolina State and Virginia Tech. And when I picked Tech, my friends didn't laugh, but they did ask me if I could cover [Miami receivers] Yatil Green and Jammi German.
``I told them, `We'll see.'''
Johnson, who stands 5-foot-10, was a lot shorter when he and his buddies used to try and climb the fences of Joe Robbie Stadium - renamed Pro Player this year - to watch the NFL's Dolphins.
``We never made it,'' he said. ``They have good security.''
So, Johnson and his pals found another route to view what was then Don Shula's team. They joined the parking lot crew at the 75,000-seat stadium. When the games began, they were allowed to go inside.
``It was the best way to get in - free,'' Johnson said. ``I saw the Super Bowl in 1989. We got into concerts, too. Since the stadium has been there, I've gone there a lot. This time, it will be different.
``Just playing Miami at the Orange Bowl was really special, and then when we won, well, there were some people I know who were eating their words. Now, to be right in the neighborhood, playing on that grass where we used to watch the Dolphins, it's definitely a big deal.''
Johnson said he is filling a ticket-request list of 25 or 26 by trading seats with teammates. The NCAA allows each player in a bowl six complimentary tickets. The limit is four for regular-season games.
The sophomore cornerback spent part of the season trading Lane Stadium seats for tickets in Miami. Then, he had to make a list of new deals once the Hokies learned they'd be in their first Orange Bowl.
``I've even told some guys I'd trade them seats next season,'' Johnson said. ``We go up East to places [Rutgers, Temple, Pitt, West Virginia] and there are players with family and friends there. So, you trade.''
While his Hokies teammates were trying to build the kind of Big East success they've achieved, Johnson's personal goal was more specific.
He wanted to beat Miami. He's 2-for-2.
``To me, college football is a little bit pressure and a lot expectations,'' said Johnson, 19. ``I'm sure where we're playing, where I'll be, will be in the back of my mind. When the game starts, I'm sure I'll be so into it, I won't think much about that.''
While most of the rest of his teammates returned to campus at Christmas and traveled to Miami by plane Thursday, Johnson made his 35-mile trip from home to Tech's Miami Beach headquarters by car Thursday morning.
``It's strange to be this close to home and have to go to a hotel,'' he said.
And when he goes to Pro Player on Tuesday, Johnson will be going through the gate as he probably dreamed he one day would - with a player's pass.
``I guess,'' Johnson said, ``dreams can come true.''
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Johnson. color.by CNBFor more on Virginia Tech's Orange Bowl trip to Miami, see our
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