December 21, 1998
Three freshmen on the University of Kentucky football team — strong safety David Johnson, defensive end Dennis Johnson, and offensive tackle Matt Brown — have earned Freshman All-America honors from The Sporting News and Football News magazines.
The Sporting News named David Johnson to its Freshman All-America first team. Dennis Johnson was a second-team pick and Brown was chosen for the third team. Football News gave honorable mention Freshman All-America honors to David Johnson and Dennis Johnson.
David Johnson played in all 11 games and started nine. Although he missed most of the LSU and Georgia games because of an injury, he still finished fourth on the team in tackles with 53 stops, including two tackles for loss. He had a season high of eight tackles at Tennessee.
Johnson’s season was highlighted by a series of big plays, four of which had a direct bearing on Wildcats victories. He picked up a fumble on the first possession against Eastern Kentucky and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown. He knocked loose a fumble against Indiana, recovered by UK, that set up a touchdown in the Wildcats’ 31-27 comeback victory over the Hoosiers. Johnson broke up a fourth-down pass on the goal line against South Carolina and sacked the quarterback on a fourth-down play against Mississippi State.
Johnson led the team in interceptions with two, with pickoffs coming at Arkansas and Tennessee. His interception of the Razorbacks’ Clint Stoerner ended Stoerner’s school-record string of 137 passes without an interception. He also caused two fumbles and had four pass breakups.
Dennis Johnson played in all 11 games and started the final six contests. He led the UK defensive ends in tackles with 26, with a season high of four tackles against Mississippi State and Tennessee.
Johnson also made a number of big plays during the year. He was credited with three tackles for loss. He sacked the quarterback twice against Vanderbilt. One of those sacks caused a fumble that Marlon McCree returned for a touchdown. Johnson bottled up a reverse, forcing a seven-yard loss, on Indiana’s final possession of UK’s 31-27 win. He added a blocked field goal at Arkansas.
Brown played in seven games, starting the last three at left tackle. The Wildcats won two of his three starting assignments, against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, and the team averaged 524.7 yards per game of total offense with Brown in the starting lineup.
“David, Dennis, and Matt made significant contributions to our team’s success this season are very deserving of being honored,” Coach Hal Mumme said. “We’re very happy for them and their individual success reflects the quality of the players who have chosen to join our program.”
