*All athletes have that one game, that one contest, that ranks as the most unforgettable of their lives. It can be memorable because of a personal or team achievement, a dramatic finish, a sentimental moment, or any number of other factors.
Continuing an annual summer series, Packers.com caught up with the members of the 2009 draft class to ask them about the game they'll never forget. It could be a game at any level of competition that took place at any time. They're all hoping their new NFL careers will give them new memories and new games to cherish, but for now, these rank at the top.*
Winning a championship has never gotten old to Quinn Johnson.
The bruising fullback and fifth-round draft choice out of LSU not only won one in high school, but he followed it up with one at his home-state college, when the Tigers beat Ohio State 38-24 in the BCS National Championship on Jan. 7, 2008, in front of mostly home-state fans at the Louisiana Superdome.
"It's a bunch of guys that you work so hard with coming together, and you actually get a goal accomplished you're trying to accomplish," Johnson said. "That's one of the best feelings right there. You feel like you're at the top of the mountain."
Johnson first enjoyed that feeling as a senior in high school, when as a fullback and linebacker he helped lead West St. John to the Louisiana Class 2A state title with a 41-21 victory over Sterlington in 2003.
Johnson said he had one big hit in that game on a tackle near the sideline, forcing a fumble that a teammate recovered. But more notable was simply West St. John's dominance throughout the state playoffs that year, winning the four games leading up to the state title game by scores of 42-0, 41-22, 47-14 and 33-8, and then winning the championship by 20 points.
That's an average margin of victory of 27.8 points in five postseason games, as West St. John captured the second of its three state football titles in school history.
"It was just all the guys coming together and having fun," Johnson said. "That was the best part of it, getting to where we wanted to be, what we said at the beginning of the season."
Four years later Johnson's college team accomplished the same thing. As a redshirt junior on LSU's 2007 squad, Johnson rarely touched the ball, but he played an integral part in the Tigers' offense as a lead blocker for running back Jacob Hester and a pass protector for quarterback Matt Flynn.
In the title game against Ohio State, Johnson shows up on the stat sheet only once - for a 3-yard reception in the first quarter that helped lead to a field goal as LSU quickly rallied from an early 10-0 deficit.
But he also helped pave the way for 152 rushing yards by LSU, including 86 by Hester, while Flynn was sacked just once in 27 pass attempts.
He actually said his claim to fame from that game was from a picture that showed up in the newspaper the next morning.
{sportsad300}Midway through the second quarter, LSU's Chevis Jackson intercepted an Ohio State pass and returned it 34 yards to the Buckeyes' 24-yard line. That set up a short touchdown drive to give LSU a 24-10 halftime lead.
A photo of Jackson's interception return along the LSU sideline apparently showed Johnson jumping higher in the air than any of his teammates or coaches in celebration as Jackson ran by.
"I was just so excited," Johnson said. "That one, it really was like a Super Bowl. It felt like the whole world was watching, and of course the pressure is on. The atmosphere, you can't really explain it."
In Green Bay, Johnson has re-joined a college teammate in Flynn, and that has only reminded him of the camaraderie that championship squad continues to share.
"Anybody on that team, I could call them right now and just talk about nothing," Johnson said. "It was definitely a close team."
