'08 OR DE Ethan Johnson (6/27/07 Notre Dame LOI)

**jbrown_9999** · 05-20-2012, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by marv81s

EJ and KLM

Please tell me everyone else in the picture is sitting...

**Purebred Irishman** · 05-21-2012, 05:42 AM

Well done to all the graduates from this class

**HoffVir** · 05-23-2012, 10:41 PM

Notre Dame football: Johnson thankful for chance with Chiefs

By ERIC HANSEN - Follow me @hansensouthbend
South Bend Tribune Staff Writer
9:43 p.m. EDT, May 23, 2012

In the weeks leading up to the NFL Draft in late April, Ethan Johnson
got a chance to see what a miracle looked like.

Shut out of the NFL Combine in late February because of an
injury-ravaged senior season and bumped from Notre Dame's own Pro Day
to attend to what he terms "a family medical emergency," Johnson
headed to Florida hoping to develop a plan that would somehow create a
back door onto an NFL roster.

That the former Irish defensive end started organized team activities
(OTAs) with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday was not what he
considered the miracle, though Johnson did wonder after missing Pro
Day if he'd ever get a chance to try on his dream.

The real marvel was a cancer patient Johnson met while training in
Jacksonville, Fla., with childhood friend and personal trainer David
Kampfe Jr.

Kampfe's mother, Eileen, is a master herbalist whose work includes
treating eight cancer patients.

"A person she started working with in November had three stage 4
cancers," Johnson said. "The doctors told her she only had six months
to live. So the cancer patient went to Eileen at her Wellness Center.

"This is a woman they literally had to carry in there. She couldn't
sit up. Now, six months later, she's walking her dog. She's not going
back to work yet and her cancer is not in remission yet, but it's on
its way. It's crazy. I watched everything Eileen did."

And soon, Johnson started eating the "power foods" that the cancer
patients were ingesting, things like mila, maca and beet juice along
with salmon and venison for protein. He's still eating that way as a
member of the Chiefs.

"Haven't tried one drop of barbecue sauce since I've been here," Johnson said.

The Kampfes' methods helped get Johnson's body ready for the NFL, but
he still needed to find a hole in the screen.

So his first call was to his former coach at Lincoln High School in
Portland, Ore., Chad Carlson, who put him in touch with agent Tim
Younger out of L.A. His second call was to University of Kansas head
coach Charlie Weis, Johnson's head coach at Notre Dame in his freshman
and sophomore seasons (2008, '09).

"I was just hoping that he could alert some teams about my character
and let them know I'm a hard-working guy and that my family situation
was real," Johnson said of Weis. "And he really helped me out a lot.

"When you have only two weeks before the draft, you need all the help
you can get. Coach Weis, I think, really went to bat with teams and
let them know I was a viable option in the draft. Now, I didn't get
drafted, but I got signed very quickly after the draft -- like 40
minutes after, I was signing my contract."

Johnson joins former Irish teammate, safety Kyle McCarthy, on the
Chiefs' roster. Former ND quarterback Brady Quinn is also a Chief,
though Quinn had already graduated by the time Johnson arrived at ND
in the summer of 2008.

The 6-foot-4, 300-pounder was prepared to wait until 2013 to try to
make a run at an NFL career. But the family medical emergency was
resolved shortly after ND's April 3 Pro Day. The NFL Draft was April
26-28.

"I didn't want to do something halfway and not being able to perform
properly, because I wasn't able to focus on it the way I wanted to,"
Johnson explained of bypassing the combine-esque workout for pro
scouts.

His senior résumé didn't help matters. It included a career-low 14
tackles and zero sacks, largely the product of a high ankle sprain
suffered in the opening moments of ND's win over Purdue in week five.

Johnson was not back at 100 percent until weeks after the season
ended, though he did hobble through ND's final four games of 2011.

"It was definitely frustrating," he said. "You work for three years to
put yourself in position to have a great senior season. After six
weeks, the injury stabilized, but it was like walking around on a peg
leg.

"You have enough strength to put weight on it, but cutting or any type
of sudden movement is like not going to happen. And defensive line
play is all sudden movements and explosion.

"I guess that's a big reason why I just feel so happy for the
opportunity and I'm just thankful for all of the people who helped me
get into this situation. I'm very, very, very thankful. I feel -- well
-- blessed is almost not strong enough of a word. God is good."

http://www.southbendtribune.com/spor...357,full.story

**Purebred Irishman** · 07-27-2012, 05:07 AM

http://www.wsbt.com/sports/wsbt-form...,2512199.story

Ethan Johnson loves football. He also loves his dad.

"You only get one dad in this life and I love my dad very much", Johnson says.

"He had a huge impact on my life."

After a stellar career for the Irish, playing in all but four games in his career and starting 37, Ethan chose not work out for NFL scouts, putting a professional career in jeopardy.

"I basically didn't interview for a job. It's like not interviewing for a job even though you're a clear applicant for it or you have the credentials."

He stayed in shape: But his mind and his heart were elsewhere. With his ailing father, who was quickly losing his fight with a neurological disorder.

"I knew it was coming to a point of no return because of the situation. It was a terrible situation. I thought I not going to go (to the NFL) this year because my dad's neurological disorder caused by a military related disaster in 2003.

"He truly was a hero. He was special security in the Army. He protected the commanding officer in Iraq. That was his detail."

Ethan's father Daniel was an Oregon state trooper and national guardsman, who served his country in Iraq in 2003, when some US troops were exposed to deadly chemicals. He died from complications from the chemical exposure on May 23rd of this year.

"When my dad left for Iraq, there were a lot of sacrifices. I'm getting emotional talking about it..."

Playing in the NFL wasn't only Ethan's dream. It was also his dad's dream for his son.

"As I was talking with dad he said, 'I want you to do what God wants you to do. He's not making it easy for you to come help'. That was really tough for me. I was upset about that."

Ethan listened, and by late April...he was there. A free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs.

"It's exciting. I'm blessed beyond belief."

"I hope he'd be more proud of the person I am that what I do on the football field, because at the end of the day, it's just a game."