Coming attractions
Johnson, Todman look like winners
FOXBOROUGH -- Ask their coaches what makes Everett's Isaac Johnson and Dartmouth's Jordan Todman two of the premier high school running backs in the state and you'll receive the same answer: vision. The ability to see something develop on the football field before it actually unfolds.
Brought together by the Globe for a preseason photo at Gillette Stadium, site of this year's Eastern Mass. Division 1 Super Bowl, Johnson and Todman had their precognition skills put to the test. They were asked if they could envision their teams meeting here in December.
The answers, again, were the same.
"It'd be nice, but all we can do is take it one game at a time," said Todman, echoing nearly verbatim sentiments expressed by Johnson moments earlier.
Tucked away in an office nearby, Bill Belichick surely was smiling.
With their teams preseason favorites to win their leagues, there is indeed the chance that Johnson and Todman could meet when the Super Bowls return to Foxborough for the first time since 1990. Six of the region's seven championship games will be in Gillette Stadium Dec. 1 (the Division 4 game will be at Stonehill College in Easton).
On the silky synthetic field, sandal-clad Todman made a few quick cuts before joking to Dartmouth coach Richard White, "I'd be juking guys all over the place on this stuff."
It's hard to imagine Todman being any more elusive than he was a year ago. The 5-foot-10-inch, 185-pound speedster juked his way to Division 1 bests with 2,219 yards (on 222 carries) and 28 touchdowns (168 points overall). The Globe's Division 1 Player of the Year, he propelled Dartmouth to a spotless 10-0 regular-season record and the Old Colony League title before the Indians fell to Brockton, 15-14, in a playoff semifinal.
Todman will be even more important to Dartmouth this fall as it attempts to maintain its success while integrating a group of promising juniors.
But the dream of playing in the title game is probably closer reality for Boston College-bound Johnson, a 6-foot, 175-pound back who guided Everett to a 12-0 record and a Super Bowl title while piling up team bests of 1,350 all-purpose yards and 19 touchdowns.
It was the sixth Super Bowl title in 10 seasons for the Tide, who finished 2006 atop the Globe's Top 20 poll. Coach John DiBiaso's football factory has never relied on a single standout, and therein lies one of the biggest differences between the two backs, but it's far from the only one. A closer inspection reveals starkly different personalities: Johnson is quiet and guarded, while Todman is playful and candid. Johnson is calm before games, while Todman struggles to keep his morning pancakes down.
But Johnson and Todman do share a birthday: Feb. 24.
Football jumped to the forefront for both players during junior high school. They each had a mentor who pushed them in the absence of their birth fathers.
For Johnson, it was his junior high basketball coach, Marty Somers.
"He was like a father to me, and since my father wasn't able to be around, I viewed him like that," said Johnson, who was reluctant to disclose more, saying only that he now lives with his stepmother. "He took me in and taught me to do everything at 100 percent. It didn't matter if it was schoolwork, or sports, or showering. He just wanted me to give it everything I had."
The Tide brought Diamond Ferri's No. 6 out of retirement before Johnson's sophomore season and gave it to him. All Ferri did in three years with Everett was pile up more than 4,000 yards and score 54 touchdowns while leading the team to a pair of Super Bowl titles.
Johnson has a quiet confidence. He said he fumbled a punt return during his sophomore year and vowed never to cough up the ball again. So far, he hasn't. And while he's not much of a public chest-thumper, Johnson did anoint the 2006 Everett squad the "best of all-time" after its 35-6 win over Brockton in the Super Bowl.
It's a statement he still stands behind. But can the 2007 squad be even better?
"It's more important for us seniors to bring this team together again," said Johnson. "We need to lead for the underclassmen, so they can know how to lead this team in the future."
Teammates describe Johnson as a quiet leader. He's never very flashy and says he only gets boisterous on defense. Even his recruitment flew under the radar as he verbally committed to Boston College back in March.
When asked what motivates him, he doesn't hesitate to answer.
"It's all about winning games," said Johnson.
Winning wasn't always a priority to Todman.
As an eighth-grader at the Roosevelt Middle School in New Bedford, he was a self-professed "punk." Todman was viewed as a troublemaker, and school administrators suggested he enroll at West Side High, an alternative school in New Bedford that many at-risk youths attend.
Family friends Steve and Dana Cruz -- whose son, Justin, played Pop Warner with Todman in New Bedford -- learned of Todman's situation and offered to take him in under temporary custody if he wanted to attend Dartmouth.
"We felt like Jordan simply needed a change of scenery," said Steve Cruz. "New Bedford gave up on him. Jordan was a jokester and his mouth got him in trouble. But they wanted to lump him with the kids carrying knives and guns."
If athletics were his only interest, Todman might have considered sticking it out in New Bedford. Instead, he made the decision to move, and the Cruz family has full custody of him. He still sees his mother, Elena Joseph, every couple of weekends.
Todman's grades have improved every semester and he's taken an active role in the community as both a YMCA camp counselor and a Pop Warner coach.
"What I've noticed as a coach is the overall maturity of Jordan," said White. "Whether it's in the weight room or the classroom, he has dedicated himself more and more each year."
Now Todman is hoping that hard work will land him a Division 1 scholarship, like Johnson. BC, Penn State, UConn, and Maryland have shown interest, but most schools project him as a cornerback rather than a running back because of his height.
It's a position he's unfamiliar with but willing to learn. That's another sentiment echoed by Johnson, who is willing to move to corner if that's what BC desires.
"I'm open to wherever they want to put me," said Johnson. "It really doesn't matter to me. I'm here to help my team win."
And that's the biggest thread Johnson and Todman share: a desire to win. It might be enough to get them both back to Foxborough. 