The Lobos went on to finish 6-5, their second winning season in 14 years. So Johnson, a former high school star from Lindale, Texas, nicknamed "Rocket" for his sprinter's speed and ability to cut and accelerate in the open field, entered his sophomore season with high hopes -- both for himself and for his team.

"I was at my best," said Johnson. "Going into my sophomore year, I knew it was going to be a great year."

He was right: The Lobos won the WAC Mountain Division title and played in their first bowl game in 35 years.

He was wrong, too. Sept. 13, the third game of the season, at Texas-El Paso: Johnson gets the start in place of injured junior Lennox Gordon. He already has rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries when he takes a handoff inside the 10 and plunges into the middle, driving his 5-foot-9, 177-pound frame through the big bodies in search of another score.

That's where Johnson's season and that of the Lobos went in different directions. "There was a big pileup," Johnson said, recalling the play. "I felt something hit my leg real hard. A helmet, or maybe somebody just fell on it, I'm not sure. But I could tell it was something bad.

"It made a loud noise."

That was the sound of Johnson's fibula, one of two bones that connect the knee to the ankle, breaking. It was a clean fracture, and Johnson was back on the field in four weeks. He missed only two games and started the last four - home wins over Tulsa and Brigham Young and losses in the WAC Championship game in Las Vegas and the Insight.com Bowl in Tucson. But Johnson paid a price for his rushed return to football.

"My leg hurt the rest of the season," Johnson said. "I jut sucked it up. The doctors said it was my decision when I came back, and I really wanted to play."

In the three games before the injury, he carried 27 times for 271 yards and three touchdowns. After he came back, he totaled 179 yards and two scores on 47 carries.

"I was timid at first," Johnson said. "I'd try to protect the leg when I got tackled. I couldn't make cuts. It was better by next spring, but it affected my training, too.

"I was at the top of my game, and the injury really set me back."

By the next season, the Lobos had a new coach in Rocky Long, a new offense, and Johnson still wasn't the runner he was before the injury. The Rocket had become a satellite, orbiting the bench.

As a junior, Johnson had his least productive season as a Lobo, averaging 3.7 yards per carry, down from 5.3 and 5.6 his first two seasons. He played in all 12 games but never started, playing behind seniors Gordon and Dion Marion.

The Lobos finished a disappointing 3-9, and neither his nor his team's performance sat well with Johnson. Heading into this season, Johnson says that he is back to top form, and that he wants to be an every-down back. But as full-squad practice began Thursday, the senior is one of five backs competing for playing time. Each one is like Johnson, wanting all the carries he can get.

"We've got a battle at tailback," Long said. "There's four or five guys in that battle, and we plan to use 'em all. Who gets the majority of the carries has yet to be determined."

Johnson entered the fall third on the depth chart at tailback behind sophomores Rishard Stafford and Holman Wiggins. Also in the mix is redshirt freshman Quincy Wright and all-purpose back Ted Iacenda, a junior transfer from the University of Southern California. "Reginal has the most experience," Long said. "But his size works against him in some situations, and we're going to play whichever one seems to be the hottest at the time."

Long says he will use Johnson in situations where the Lobos can best take advantage of his open-field talents, specifically in the option and on kick returns.

"Every running back wants to carry the ball every time he can, but it doesn't work out that way," Johnson said. "I would have liked to carry the ball more; I would have liked to play more.

"The main thing now is to make the best of it every time I get the opportunity."

In all likelihood, Reginal Johnson's dream of collegiate football stardom ended nearly two years ago with the snap of a bone. But Johnson says he is willing to trade that dream for another.

"I want to be in the game, and I want to carry the ball," Johnson said. "But I'll accept my role, whatever it is. I'll do what it takes to help the team win. I'll trade individual success for team success any day. I might be disappointed if this season doesn't work out the way I hope it does, but I'll keep it to myself."

Johnson says he can live with a reduced role in the offense, even if he doesn't like it. What he can't live with is losing. He takes his role as a senior leader as seriously as he does his desire to return to his pre-injury form.

"We have something to prove," he said. "This is our last year. "Ain't no way we're going out three-and-nine again."

That would be a nightmare.

(Sean McAfee writes for The Tribune in Albuquerque, N.M.)