Caleb Johnson is not your typical tailback. At 6-4, 215 pounds and wearing the number 86 on his jersey, Johnson looks a little out of place in the Northern Lehigh backfield.

But the numbers Johnson has put up since moving to the position in the Bulldogs' third game of the season prove he is in the perfect place.That's not the way it started out for the Division I recruit, however.Johnson played split end, tight end and some wing back during his first three years in the Bulldog program and started his senior season tabbed to occupy those same positions. He was familiar with carrying the ball in open spaces. Getting the ball between the tackles and moving in heavy traffic were something new.Against Saucon Valley, in his first game at tailback, Johnson showed why coach Joe Tout wanted him at the position. He carried the ball 16 times for 105 yards and a touchdown. He also showed his inexperience at the position, fumbling three times.The Bulldogs knew they had a diamond in the rough at tailback. They just needed to take care of his ball security issues.They came up with an interesting way to do it.On the Monday following the victory over Saucon Valley, Bulldog offensive coordinator Steve Hluschak approached Tout with an idea."Coach Hluschak told me he wanted Caleb to carry a football around with him the entire day at school that week," recalled Tout. "I wasn't going to make him do it, but coach really thought it would help, so we went with it."Of course, the Bulldog coaching staff needed to okay it with the administration."Actually our Principal, Bob Vlasity, came up to me in school and said he heard we were thinking about it and wanted me to know it was fine with him," said Tout. "Bob is a former football coach himself and he is very supportive of the entire athletic program at the school."But the eight-hour school day wasn't the only time when Johnson had a ball in his arms."I had to carry the ball around my house when I got home from practice too," laughed Johnson.The Northern Lehigh coaches also turned to YouTube for a little help."We remembered that Tiki Barber had a fumbling problem years ago when he was playing for the Giants and they changed the way he carried the ball," said Tout. "We checked out some YouTube videos from when he was playing and he started carrying the ball held tight to his chest instead of tight to his side. It wasn't a huge change, but we thought that little tweak might help Caleb as well."So far the changes have worked.In the five games since making the move to tailback, Johnson has averaged 16 carries and 125 yards a game. In the two games before the move, he averaged just six carries and 46 yards a game."We felt that Caleb was a such a dangerous weapon that we needed to get him the ball more," said Tout. "Early on, his carries were primarily as the pitch man when we ran option."Now we are able to feed him the ball in a variety of ways."Johnson has been racking up big numbers on the ground and keeping the football off of it."I don't know if carrying the ball around school had too much to do with it," laughed Tout. "But he's done a much better job of protecting the ball the last few weeks. I'd prefer to give credit to coach Hluschak and our running backs coach Manny Guedes for the work they have done with Caleb for his improved ball security."But I guess you never know. Maybe psychologically it might have made him more conscious of having the ball in his hands and that could have helped a little."Whether it was taking a ball to class, watching some YouTube videos, or just getting more comfortable in his new position, it's obvious that Caleb Johnson has learned his lesson well. Which means he'll be causing a lot more problems for opposing defenses down the stretch.*****BIG START ... Pleasant Valley's Austyn Borre opened Friday's game against East Stroudsburg South by returning the kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown.The last time a Bear player returned the game's opening kickoff for a score was Sept. 14, 2007 when Chris Beck went 89 yards for a touchdown against Wyoming Valley West.Speaking of opening a game with a kickoff return for a touchdown, in last week's OVERTIME column, we talked about Marian's John Julian returning a kickoff for a touchdown against Panther Valley and said that the last time a Colt player had done that was Sept. 10, 2004 when Vito Digilio accomplished the feat against Schuylkill Haven. It should have said the last Marian player to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown was Digilio.*****PICK FIVE ... Northern Lehigh intercepted five passes against Northwestern on Friday night, including one that was taken back for a touchdown by Caleb Johnson. Also picking off passes in the game were Derek Ferrer, Chance DeLong, Darien Middaugh and Matt Gnas.It's been a long time 16 years to be exact since the Bulldogs had that many interceptions in a game. The last time it happened was Oct. 5, 1996 in a 48-8 victory over Salisbury.*****CENTURY MARK ... Dalton Nunemacher's three touchdowns in Tamaqua's victory over Schuylkill Haven last week pushed his point total to 110 this season.Nunemacher is just the fifth Raider football player since 1970 to reach the 100-point mark in a season, joining Jared Muffley (2011), Wayde Wlliams (2008), Jim Hope (1990) and Paul Jones (1974).*****TAKING THE FIRST ... Fast starts are something all football coaches stress to their teams and no team has done a better job of that than Pleasant Valley.The Bears have scored the first points in all seven of their games this season. They are the first area team to do that since 2006 when Jim Thorpe got the opening score in its first nine games of the season.Pleasant Valley's fast start isn't just limited to the game's first points, however. The Bears have been dominant in the first quater of games, outscoring the opposition 104-17, and the first half of games, outpointing the opposition, 195-65.*****ALL TIME LEADER ... Lehighton wide receiver Jacen Nalesnik added a milestone to his terrific football career last Saturday. Nalesnik broke the all-time receptions record for the Indians, passing previous record holder Shane McEvoy (102). Nalesnik caught six balls in the game for 85 yards, making that 106 receptions for his career.