Sky's the limit for DJK

Forget the Twitter. Forget the media relations battle with the head coach. Forget the whole cyber-persona of Derrell Johnson-Koulianos.

He's a good football player.

You remember football, right?

Or, as he puts it, 'The reason we're all here.' With the Twitter and the Facebook and Coach Kirk Ferentz's approval of it all, football is often a lost topic with DJK.

And, yes, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, the football player, wants the ball. Not only does DJK want the ball, he speaks openly of wanting the ball.

Really, what's wrong with that? Especially if you've backed it up the last three years as Johnson-Koulianos has.

He has 127 receptions for 1,871 yards and seven TDs, needing 31 receptions to pass Kevin Kasper as receptions leader and 401 yards to pass Tim Dwight's yardage record of 2,271. He's led the Hawkeyes in receiving the last three seasons, just the third Iowa player to do that.

He finished second in the Big Ten in kick returns, fueled by a 99-yard return at Ohio State, snapping Iowa's drought of 242 consecutive kickoffs without a TD return.

He's on the Biletnikoff (wide receiver) and Hornung (most versatile player) watch lists.

He wants to be quarterback Ricky Stanzi's top target.

Down and distance or no time on the clock at the goal line, DJK wants the ball.

'Pressure situations always drive me. And sometimes, I'll fail, but I want that pressure,' Johnson-Koulianos said. 'I want that target this year on my back. I want those expectations. That's why you play this game. I want to do something special.

'Nobody wants to be a 6-6 ballclub and go to the Alamo Bowl. I know I don't. If you can't handle that pressure or handle that target, you can always give it to me. I'll willingly accept it.' Not only will he accept it, he'll fight for it. As he did during that last timeout at Michigan State. It didn't look pretty on the Big Ten Network.

Offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe asked for input. Wide receiver Marvin McNutt said his corner lined up on his outside shoulder and he could beat him on a slant. O'Keefe made the call and the rest ran about 100 times this summer on the Big Ten Network.

Stanzi hit McNutt on a 7-yard slant and delivered victory on the last play of the game.

Little more to the story.

'I think he (O'Keefe) was like, well ... and then DJ was like awwwwwwwggggg,' McNutt said.

'He kind of gave that look, 'OK, fine, whatever.

It was definitely a really serious huddle. But in the end, we didn't even talk about it because we won. We were all in that winning atmosphere. We were just excited to get out of that one alive.' On the edges of the huddle, Johnson-Koulianos howled. He wanted the ball.

'Talk about a moment and having an opportunity,' DJK said. 'I don't think there's ever been a time when I wanted the ball more. I was actually (ticked) off. But Marvin got it done. I was happy for him. I was glad we won the game.' You could think selfish, but don't. Wide receivers coach Erik Campbell certainly doesn't.

'That's a great thing,' said Campbell, who's in his third year at Iowa.

'You want every receiver out there to want the ball.

You want them to have that kind of confidence that you can make a play at any time.

'That's the kind of attitude he has, that he can make a play anytime. I have no problem with him wanting the ball, it just so happened it didn't work out that way.' But was he open?

'Wide open,' he said with a laugh. 'It would've been way spectacular, believe me.' The laugh. There's the dash of humility, something that might not have been there when Johnson-Koulianos arrived at Iowa from Youngstown, Ohio, and the storied Cardinal Mooney High School program.

You've read about it. The silenced Twitter account. Ferentz's reluctance to allow Johnson-Koulianos to speak to the media on a regular basis.

DJK has gotten the message, which was topics one, two and three during media day.

It might have taken some time, but Ferentz and the influence of the Iowa staff is coming through. The bravado is there, certainly, but so is a dose of maturity.

'The sky can be the limit for Derrell,' Campbell said. 'It depends on how he plays this season and what he does every day in practice. He can be one of the best in the Big Ten right now.'