There will be a Derrell Johnson-Koulianos story in the paper tomorrow. I interviewed his mom, Lauren Koulianos. The Koulianos family adopted Derrell when he turned 18, officially. He spent a lot of time with the family since he was 10 and moved in when he started high school. Derrell was friends with Stephen Koulianos, a neighborhood mate, and the relationship grew.
It's good stuff. It's the kind of stuff that makes you wonder if you'd have the strength to see the situation and do the right thing. Lauren Koulianos is a nurse turned housewife (her word, not mine, so I'm using it too). Tony Koulianos, the dad, is an OB/GYN. They have two younger sons, ages 9 and 5. Four boys, two college-age, it's "Malcolm in the Middle," with one son a film student and another a Division I-A athlete at a Midwestern university. It's beautiful.
Here's some stuff I didn't get in:
Why didn't DJK end up at The Ohio State?: Lauren Koulianos said: "We're really unclear, really unsure what happened out there. It just kind of fell through and we're still not sure why. But things happen for a reason and Derrell had been recruited by Iowa the whole time. He called several people and visited Iowa. He always really liked it out there."
There was an internet report that DJK was going to walk on at Ohio State. Lauren Koulianos said that was never true.
On Kirk Herbstreit's ABC national TV man-crush on DJK (Herbstreit gushed about DLK two years ago at the Big Ten media days, also): "To be honest, that was quite a shock to us. I was very shocked. I was very, very surprised. If you're asking me if we have a personal relationship with Kirk Herbstreit, no. That was quite a surprise. He's an Ohio guy and follows football and Derrell was recruited by Ohio State, so he might've known about Derrell. That was quite a surprise and
quite a compliment to Derrell, coming from him (Herbie)."
Was Stephen Koulianos an athlete?: "It's funny because everyone laughs. They are opposites. Stephen likes sports but never played. He's more outdoorsy and is also very creative."
What did DJK carry nearly every day as a kid?: "He would always -- and this is something anyone who saw him and anyone in this area would tell you -- he always carried his football. He
always had a football, this little boy. No matter where he went he always had a football in his hand."
The enthusiasm is there, and so are the nerves. Maybe sitting by senior running back Albert Young on the bus ride to Madison last week helped: Said Albert Young, "We sat on the bus next to each other, he's just ... I know he's always trying to learn, and that's what you like. He's always asking what to expect, what's it going to be like from here and there, I think just real eager to see what's going on."
Maybe I should've waited to do a big story on a player who's resume is just beginning to fill out. I'm sure Kirk Ferentz would've voted for that. No matter what he does Saturday, Iowa needs DJK, James Cleveland, Paul Chaney Jr. and Colin Sandeman to make plays that they weren't expected to make until 2008 at the earliest.
Ultimately, the team could come out stronger because of the strife at receiver. Football works that way sometimes.