Bear Creek graduates are sticking together on Colorado State’s offense.
In the fall of 2012 at Bear Creek High School in Lakewood, Jake Bennett was the grumpy senior offensive lineman and leader, Olabisi Johnson the sometimes intimidated sophomore cornerback who wasn’t yet being deployed as a wide receiver.
“Jake was out there yelling at us when we weren’t doing so well,” Johnson said of Bennett on Saturday. “He was two years ahead of me, so we didn’t have as much of a connection as we have now.”
Bennett now is Colorado State’s entrenched senior center, the anchor of a line that had only six scholarship players healthy enough to play in the Rams’ Green and Gold game at the on-campus Lagoon Field.
In the offense vs. defense format, it required the Rams’ linemen shuffling around from side to side and running with both first and second units in many cases — except Bennett stayed put, making almost all the snaps.
“It’s hard to rotate me, move me around,” Bennett said with a laugh.
Johnson, his former Bear Creek teammate, is a junior-tobe for the Rams, and he had seven receptions for 82 yards Saturday and ended up catching the “game”-winning 5-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-goal fade route from Nick Stevens with 14 seconds showing on the clock.
Under the scoring system that rewarded the defense for creating turnovers and other successes, the Green (offense) ended up winning 43-40 — and it was close mainly because Stevens (three) and J.C. Robles (one) combined to throw four interceptions, producing 24 of the points for the Gold (defense).
Johnson is coming off a schoolrecord 265-yard reception game in the Rams’ loss to Idaho in the Idaho Potato Bowl, and when he came on late in the game Saturday, it added to the impression that he might pick up where he left off this season.
“It was exciting,” Johnson said. “Coach (Will Friend) called the play, and I went up and made it, I guess. I think he’s gained a lot more confidence in me after the bowl game and in the spring too. … I have a lot more confidence too. I think that helped me tremendously and I think it hopefully will propel me to the next level.”
Standout receiver Michael Gallup had a quiet afternoon, with three catches for 36 yards and one touchdown. The eyeopener of the day was when Preston Williams — a transfer from Tennessee who will have to sit out this season — turned a short sideline catch into a 55yard play. That was tantalizing.
“Hopefully, 84 (Williams) can get out there this year for me,” Bennett said, knowing that’s impossible. “You watch that today? That was pretty nice.”
Said CSU coach Mike Bobo: “There’s no question, Preston loves balls. Quite frankly, I thought he was the only receiver besides Bisi out here ready to play football today — Preston and Bisi. Preston, he’s a guy who can do a lot of things when he has the ball and I’m glad he’s on campus and I can’t wait to see him in a uniform.”
While Williams watches, Johnson will be part of what still is expected to be an explosive receiving corps.
Bennett, by the way, denied he ever had to focus his ire on Johnson at Bear Creek.
“I never had to yell at him,” Bennett said. “You been watching that guy? He’s pretty dang good. That back there was a different situation, with other guys really not caring. It’s nice to be a senior here with this group of guys, because they come out there to work every day. Same high school, it’s nice to see a guy as athletic as that finally develop into what he’s showed on the field.”