Gators linebacker Alonzo Johnson, left, with Coach Galen Hall, center, and offensive lineman Jeff Zimmerman. (File photo via Orlando Sentinel/Newspapers.com)
Carter's Corner: Alonzo Johnson, a Gator Great Hard to Forget
Saturday, February 3, 2024 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If you saw Alonzo Johnson play for the Gators, you never forgot him.
No. 93 was a swinging wrecking ball for a Florida team that, throughout the 1984 and '85 seasons, went 18-2-2, including a nine-game win streak to end the 1984 campaign. Johnson did his damage as a 6-foot-3, 222-pound outside linebacker.
When the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando created the Butkus Award in 1985 to honor the nation's top linebacker, Johnson was one of five finalists, along with eventual winner Brian Bosworth.
Florida's signature win that season came on the road against Auburn and Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson. In a last-one-standing-wins physical slugfest, the kind of game you don't see nowadays, the Gators won 14-10 to improve to 15-0-1 under second-year head coach Galen Hall, who had replaced Charley Pell two games into the 1984 season with the program engulfed by NCAA sanctions.
"It wasn't no place for no women or children,'' Auburn coach Pat Dye famously said after the loss.
Florida's victory, coupled with No. 1-ranked Iowa's loss to Ohio State, boosted the Gators to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the first time in school history. The Gators lost the next week to Georgia in Jacksonville.
Still, the victory at Auburn resonates as one of the most memorable in program history.
Jackson entered the game with more than 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns through seven games. He managed only 48 yards on 16 carries against the Gators, hampered by a deep thigh bruise that forced him to exit the game late in the first half. He tried to return after halftime but managed only one carry.
Johnson did his part with eight tackles, as the UF defense held Auburn 157 yards rushing, more than 200 yards below its NCAA-leading average.
Stopping Jackson was assignment No. 1.
"We knew we had to gang-tackle him. We knew we had to punish him … let him know he was going to get helmets in all directions,'' Johnson told reporters afterward. "We had to put fear into him. Last week, everywhere we'd go, we'd hear about Bo Jackson.
"Now we can go back and say, 'Yeah, what about him?' "
Johnson signed with the Gators out of Rutherford High in Panama City in 1981, and after getting trapped in Pell's doghouse, he was dismissed and returned home and worked briefly as a construction laborer. The two made up, and Johnson was a standout from 1982-85, earning All-American honors as a junior and senior.
The Philadelphia Eagles drafted Johnson in the second round of the 1986 draft, and as a rookie, he started nine games and had three interceptions for head coach Buddy Ryan's defense. But a hamstring injury and off-the-field issues wiped out most of his second season.
By 1988, following a stint in drug rehab, Johnson's NFL career was over when the Eagles cut him during training camp. Personal demons ultimately destroyed Johnson's promise as a player, and his agent's mismanagement of a $225,000 signing bonus impacted his future endeavors.
Johnson finished his UF career with 27 sacks, which stood as the program record until Alex Brown finished his career in 2001 with 33. Johnson was inducted into the UF Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 as a "Gator Great."
Born in Panama City, Fla., on April 4, 1963, Johnson died in Bay County on Thursday night of an unknown medical issue, according to WJHG-TV in his hometown.
His former UF teammate, Patrick Miller, spoke to the station about Johnson.
"That was the man. What he could do on the field every Saturday, Zo was the man," Miller said. "You know the sacks, the tackles for loss, lining up in multiple positions and dropping in coverage. Zo was the man, and we depended on him a lot. You know he's probably one of the best. I was talking to Vernell Brown today, and Vernell said there is no other athlete in America that I know that could do the things that Alonzo could do."
Alonzo Al Johnson was 60 years old.
No. 93 was a swinging wrecking ball for a Florida team that, throughout the 1984 and '85 seasons, went 18-2-2, including a nine-game win streak to end the 1984 campaign. Johnson did his damage as a 6-foot-3, 222-pound outside linebacker.
When the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando created the Butkus Award in 1985 to honor the nation's top linebacker, Johnson was one of five finalists, along with eventual winner Brian Bosworth.
Florida's signature win that season came on the road against Auburn and Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson. In a last-one-standing-wins physical slugfest, the kind of game you don't see nowadays, the Gators won 14-10 to improve to 15-0-1 under second-year head coach Galen Hall, who had replaced Charley Pell two games into the 1984 season with the program engulfed by NCAA sanctions.
"It wasn't no place for no women or children,'' Auburn coach Pat Dye famously said after the loss.
Florida's victory, coupled with No. 1-ranked Iowa's loss to Ohio State, boosted the Gators to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the first time in school history. The Gators lost the next week to Georgia in Jacksonville.
Still, the victory at Auburn resonates as one of the most memorable in program history.
Jackson entered the game with more than 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns through seven games. He managed only 48 yards on 16 carries against the Gators, hampered by a deep thigh bruise that forced him to exit the game late in the first half. He tried to return after halftime but managed only one carry.
Johnson did his part with eight tackles, as the UF defense held Auburn 157 yards rushing, more than 200 yards below its NCAA-leading average.
Stopping Jackson was assignment No. 1.
"We knew we had to gang-tackle him. We knew we had to punish him … let him know he was going to get helmets in all directions,'' Johnson told reporters afterward. "We had to put fear into him. Last week, everywhere we'd go, we'd hear about Bo Jackson.
"Now we can go back and say, 'Yeah, what about him?' "
Rutherford and UF football legend Alonzo Johnson has passed away https://t.co/oFDYfsiQey
— #PatriciaAnge #BlackWoman #BlackHERstory365 (@ange_patricia) February 3, 2024
Johnson signed with the Gators out of Rutherford High in Panama City in 1981, and after getting trapped in Pell's doghouse, he was dismissed and returned home and worked briefly as a construction laborer. The two made up, and Johnson was a standout from 1982-85, earning All-American honors as a junior and senior.
The Philadelphia Eagles drafted Johnson in the second round of the 1986 draft, and as a rookie, he started nine games and had three interceptions for head coach Buddy Ryan's defense. But a hamstring injury and off-the-field issues wiped out most of his second season.
By 1988, following a stint in drug rehab, Johnson's NFL career was over when the Eagles cut him during training camp. Personal demons ultimately destroyed Johnson's promise as a player, and his agent's mismanagement of a $225,000 signing bonus impacted his future endeavors.
Johnson finished his UF career with 27 sacks, which stood as the program record until Alex Brown finished his career in 2001 with 33. Johnson was inducted into the UF Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 as a "Gator Great."
Born in Panama City, Fla., on April 4, 1963, Johnson died in Bay County on Thursday night of an unknown medical issue, according to WJHG-TV in his hometown.
His former UF teammate, Patrick Miller, spoke to the station about Johnson.
"That was the man. What he could do on the field every Saturday, Zo was the man," Miller said. "You know the sacks, the tackles for loss, lining up in multiple positions and dropping in coverage. Zo was the man, and we depended on him a lot. You know he's probably one of the best. I was talking to Vernell Brown today, and Vernell said there is no other athlete in America that I know that could do the things that Alonzo could do."
Alonzo Al Johnson was 60 years old.
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