Factually speaking, Leonard Johnson doesn't talk trash

AMES - Trash talk?

Leonard Johnson doesn't believe in it.

Honest.

Instead, the brash and occasionally reckless four-year lockdown cornerback for Iowa State welds truth to power.

No apologies.

No nonsense.

“I don't talk trash,” said Johnson, who will play his final game for the Cyclones in the Dec. 30 Pinstripe Bowl against Rutgers at New York City. “I just state facts, you know what I mean? So I'm not trash talking because it looks cool when people watch it at home. Im just stating facts.”

Fact: Johnson will likely be selected in the early rounds of the NFL Draft this spring.

Fact: He'll be the first ISU defensive back chosen since Ellis Hobbs was tabbed by in the third round by New England in 2005.

Fact: He's proud of his time in Ames, but may introduce himself with home town and university affiliation if - and when - he makes his NFL debut.

“I'm a family guy; I love my city,” Johnson, of Largo High School in Clearwater, Fla., said. “But I feel the Cyclones. They've been good to me.”

Without ISU, Johnson would not have met best friend Ter'Ran Benton.

Johnson and Benton, a safety, have started a combined 74 games for the Cyclones.

Benton, of Arlington, Texas, endured three years without an interception before snatching three in the final five games of this regular season.

“I say that all the time, once you get your hands on one ball, you find a way to get more,” said Johnson, who's totaled 10 takeaways in his college career. “That's my best friend. Three picks in one season, that's big time for him.”

Johnson and Benton form one of ISU's most dynamic defensive backfield duos in recent memory.

They often reside on the same page - in coverage, in the film room and around campus.

“They bounce energy off each other all the time,” said junior linebacker Jake Knott, a first-team all-Big 12 pick by the Associated Press. “And they always rally the troops. They always do so much together, get everybody together. It's fun to be around those type of players and they're going to be sorely, sorely missed next year.”

Benton won't just miss Johnson's friendship.

He'll also miss his culinary skills.

Yes, the reputed trash talker is a heck of a good cook - as he showed last month by coordinating Thanksgiving dinner.

“I was the guy behind it,” said Johnson, who Benton noted is a good talker, player, barber and cook. “Of course, my mom helped me a little bit.”

But not a lot.

Johnson and fellow Floridian Ben Dinkins prepared turkey, stuffing, macaroni and cheese and collard greens for the palate-pleasing repast.

“It was pretty good,” Benton said.

Now one more holiday together looms for Johnson and Benton.

First Christmas in New York, then football in Yankee Stadium.

Benton will turn 22 - his number - the following day.

“It's the end of the road,” he said.

And a beginning.

In word and deed.

“Even though I'm a good player, at times I'm put in situations where I doubt myself,” Johnson said. “I'll make a good play and then I start talking. It's not so much talking directly toward a person, it's just self motivation.”

As for a sample?

“‘Hey, I kicked your butt on that play, man,'” Johnson said. “It's nothing too personal.”