Pepper's return spices up Jets
camp
 This is the third in a series of postcards Sports
Illustrated's Peter King will e-mail from his annual NFL
training-camp
tour.
Posted: Fri July 24,
1998
July 24: Hempstead,
N.Y.
TEAM: New York
Jets
SITE: Hofstra University, in traffic-choked western Long Island,
hard by the Hempstead Turnpike. The Jets are one of the few
teams in the NFL who have training camp in the same place
as their regular-season camp. Nothing picturesque or
enjoyable here—especially not the omnipresent
security.
FOOD: Three Krispy Kreme glazed donuts. Water. (I trust that the
Jets' training table is wonderfully plentiful because my
media brethren stuffed their faces happily with pastas,
salads and fruits. I, however, was waiting for 90 minutes
for rookie defensive back
Scott
Frost, thus forcing me into a sugary
lunch.)
Dear NFL
Junkie:
There is a great script in development at Jets camp. It's
the story of inside linebacker
Pepper
Johnson, who missed the last half of last season with a torn
patella tendon. In a goal-line drill this morning, Johnson
burst through a gap and met a fullback head-on, stopping
him from scoring. Johnson's defensive mates exploded in
glee.
I've known Johnson since his rookie year with the Giants in
1986. Late in a preseason game that summer at Cleveland, he
got into an on-field argument with
Lawrence
Taylor, who ordered himself into the game—and Johnson
out—on a fourth-and-goal-line stand. "What guts
this guy has, to be arguing with
LT," I thought. He's been that type of gutty team guy for all of
his 13 years in the league; it's a sad thing to think of
the
NFL without a guy like Pepper
Johnson.
But maybe we can delay that retirement party a year.
"The guy is writing a remarkable story right
now," coach
Bill
Parcells told me after
practice.
Here's hoping the comeback of this 34-year-old warrior
lasts longer than this training
camp.—P.K.
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