DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — For so long, Thomas "Pepper" Johnson — Ohio State legend, NFL champion — had it all over his son.

After all, he's got his very own All-America tree in the hallowed Buckeye Grove outside Ohio Stadium.

At his mother's house, he's got what his boy — current Buck Dionte Johnson — called his dad's "own personal hall of fame," with plaques touting him as everything from the team's 1985 defensive MVP to being on the Buckeyes' all-century team.

Then there are his five Super Bowl rings, two earned during 13 years as an NFL linebacker and three as a New England Patriots assistant coach.

And, of course, there's that nickname, given to him by an aunt because of a childhood quirk, adding pepper to his breakfast cereal.

But now — after three years in the wings and just four career carries, coming when he was a freshman — Pepper's boy is tasting some sugar. Dionte Johnson is finally catching up to Dad. He's the Bucks' 6-foot, 242-pound starting fullback.

He said he's making headway at Grandma's house, too: "Dad's awards there go on for days. They fill the whole building, but now she's put out a little table for my stuff."

And while his dad roomed with Keith Byars at OSU and has remained a close friend of the fullback from Dayton's Roth High, Dionte has Byars as both his godfather and a confidante who shares "running back tips."

But the thing that's really enabled Dionte to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dad happened last Saturday. That's when the other players chose him as one of their captains.

Pepper Johnson was the Bucks' captain in 1984 and 1985. Only two other father-son combos — James and Kirk Herbstreit and James and Jeff Davidson — have been OSU football captains.

"My dad's the first person I called Saturday," Dionte admitted. "He'd waited all summer for the vote to happen, and he was on pins and needles. When I told him, I heard the excitement in his voice. He was a little giddy.

"Then he told me it was my time to be responsible and share that cross, so to speak. But I've been learning that ever since I was born. He and my mom — she's a Buckeye through and through — instilled in me what it means to play here.

"From the time I was little, I had an OSU helmet, pants, a jersey. My first memory here came when I was about 7 and went with my dad and grandmother to the Buckeye Grove to see his tree and some of the ones planted for all the other All-Americans here."

While he said his father's reputation saddled him with pressure as a prep player, he said he doesn't feel it as much at OSU, even though everywhere he goes he hears stories trumpeting him.

"My dad told me to just go out and do what I can do — be who I can be — and don't try to be him."

Anything else?

Dionte thought a few seconds and laughed:

"Well, in high school when I was thinking about colleges, he didn't really push me. He just stressed one thing.

" 'Don't go to Michigan!' "