Former Penn State assistant Johnson due back with Ohio State

STATE COLLEGE - Former defensive coordinator Tom Bradley spent more than 3 decades at Penn State. About one-third of that time was spent with Larry Johnson by his side.

In their time on the staff, Bradley, now an assistant head coach at West Virginia, and Johnson helped forge dominating defenses.

"When we worked together, it was always about the team," Bradley said.

The same remains true for Johnson, even though that team is no longer Penn State.

From 1996 to 2013, Johnson roamed the Beaver Stadium sideline as an assistant coach. In all that time, he said, he had never been in the stadium's visiting locker room. He has heard only that it's small.

That will change Saturday.

With Penn State hosting Ohio State, Johnson, beloved by former players and fans alike, is revisiting his old home, where he made so many memories and had such a profound effect, with one of the Nittany Lions' most despised rivals.

"It will be different," Johnson, now the Buckeyes' defensive line coach, said Monday.

It certainly will.

But just because Johnson won't be wearing a navy-blue polo or pullover doesn't mean his impact on - and off - the Penn State football field has been forgotten.

Johnson twice interviewed for the Penn State head-coaching job, and twice he was denied. The first opportunity was in 2012, after Joe Paterno was fired in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and before Bill O'Brien was named Paterno's successor. Johnson stayed on the new staff as an assistant.

The second shot was after O'Brien bolted for the Houston Texans after last season. After holding things together as an interim head coach, he interviewed for the permanent position and lost out to James Franklin, who was then the coach at Vanderbilt.

This time, Johnson didn't stick around.

"I left on my own terms," Johnson said. "I felt the best thing for me was to move on. I found a great home."

And yet, it's a home that has had many Penn State faithful taken aback.

Former Penn State defensive tackle DaQuan Jones, coached by Johnson his entire career, couldn't believe Johnson left for Columbus, Ohio.

"You got to be freaking kidding me. How can you go to Ohio State?" Jones said was his reaction.

But Jones, now a rookie with the Tennessee Titans, gradually understood why his coach left Happy Valley.

Johnson didn't want to be "the guy" held over yet again.

And in the eyes of Jones and other Penn Staters, that shouldn't have been the case.

"He deserved to be a main candidate, if not the candidate [after O'Brien left]," former Penn State defensive tackle Jared Odrick said.

Odrick, in his fifth season with the Miami Dolphins, called Johnson "the glue" as Penn State held things together the past few years. Odrick said he was hurt when his former coach got slighted while trying to get the permanent head-coaching position in 2013.

"He didn't get an opportunity - a real opportunity," Odrick said. "If they were real about giving him an interview, he would have got the head coach job."

He had the pedigree necessary. At Penn State, Johnson was a skilled coach, developing such NFL talent as Jones, Odrick, Jordan Hill, Tamba Hali and Courtney Brown. He also was a well-known recruiter, dominating the Mid-Atlantic.

But it wasn't just the on-field success that made Johnson a sought-after candidate. Johnson struck a chord with his players that has stayed with them to this day.

Johnson has said he doesn't want only to coach his players. He wants to invest in them.

"If I invest in you, at the end of the day, when you get married and have your first kid, you'll call me and say, 'Coach Johnson, I just had my first kid,' " Johnson said. "That is an investment."

Such an approach helped establish an unbroken link among Penn State defensive linemen while Johnson was with the Lions.

Odrick, from his freshman year in 2006 until he was drafted in 2010, said the defensive linemen did everything as a unit. They ate, went out, sweat and bled together.

It's something he misses to this day, and he thanks Johnson for fostering such a bond unlike anything he's experience in the NFL.

"At some collegiate programs, you're a cog in the machine . . . Coach J made you feel part of a family," Odrick said. "Coach J was the father of that family."

An example of that connection can be found in a story that has made recent headlines.

The daughter of Devon Still, a former All-America defensive tackle at Penn State who was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012, was diagnosed with cancer in June, and since then, support for Still's family has skyrocketed nationally. Proceeds from Still jersey sales are going to pediatric cancer research and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Odrick said he and current Dolphins and former Penn Stater Cameron Wake are among those who have purchased Still jerseys. Jones said he purchased five for his family.

Why?

"[Still] knows that anyone he played with, any d-lineman at Penn State - it's a brotherhood - so whenever he needs someone, he can call us and we'll be there in a heartbeat," Jones said.

It's that kind of brotherhood that Johnson facilitated and helped grow.

For most of the expected sold-out crowd, it will be weird to see Johnson with Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer in Beaver Stadium.

He won't run out of the south end-zone tunnel, cheered by the student section, and bear right to the Penn State sideline.

Instead, Johnson will come out of a tunnel in the north end zone to, likely, boos raining toward the Buckeyes.

But they won't necessarily be directed at Johnson.

Even though it's Ohio State, Johnson has his supporters. That includes Odrick.

"I'm happy for him. I'm happy to see him back in Beaver Stadium and doing something new in a new chapter in his life," Odrick said.

This weekend will likely bring back memories for Johnson. There's no forgetting history; Johnson made a lasting impact at Penn State.

But in the present, he's trying to do the same thing at Ohio State.

"I'm very happy here at Ohio State University," Johnson said. "Really look forward to the future here for many years."

If that's the case, he better get used to Beaver Stadium's small visitors' locker room.