When you know you’re doing the right thing, the decision comes easy.

At least that was the case for Al and Ben Johnson when they both decided to put off this year’s NFL draft and return for their final season at Wisconsin.

“It was an easy decision,” Ben said. “I was going to be a fourth or fifth-round draft pick, and I enjoy college football. I love running out in front of all of those great fans we have. It’s a wonderful experience.”

For Al the decision came just as easily.

“A lot of things had to actually happen for me to leave,” the Badger center said.
Al had considered the option of entering the draft throughout the season, and he met with offensive-line coach Jim Hueber on a monthly basis to discuss his NFL status.

“[Hueber] talked to a few people, a few NFL scouts, and a few guys that looked at tape and stuff in the NFL just to get a feel for what they thought and where they thought I would go,” Al said. “[My draft number] would have been somewhere around the third round.”

For Al, being drafted in the third round wasn’t enough of an incentive to forgo his senior season. Instead, he opted to return to UW and work on achieving his ultimate goal — to be the first center drafted in next year’s draft.

But draft status wasn’t the only factor keeping Al in a Badger uniform for another year. His desire to leave Wisconsin on a better note than last year also weighed in on his decision to return. After injuring his ankle twice last season, (allowing him to only be healthy for the last few games of the season) and posting a losing record as a team, Al wanted to leave Wisconsin feeling more content with the way his collegiate career ended.

“[I want] to just have a better season, to go out and remember Wisconsin football on a better note than what we ended on last year,” Al said.

For Ben, the reasoning to remain for his senior year was a little different. Yes, Ben wanted to improve his draft status as well, but he also wanted to leave Wisconsin with a piece of paper — his diploma.

After struggling to keep himself academically eligible during his first couple of years at UW, Ben is finally on track to graduate next year.

“I’ve got a chance to graduate in the fall. I never thought I’d be able to graduate,” the left tackle said. “My first couple of years here were a harsh couple of years. But I kept going, stayed on track, and just the thought of graduating, for me, it will be great. It’s a great thing.”

The return of Al and Ben to UW for one more year permits not only Al the chance to leave on a better note, Ben to graduate, and for the two of them to improve their draft status, but it also lets two cousins finish out their collegiate careers together.

Al and Ben, natives of Brussels, Wis., have played together for 11 to 12 years as teammates and cousins through high school and college. But the relative grouping doesn’t bother the two offensive linemen. In fact, it’s a label they are fond of.
“When you really think about it, it’s something that when I’m older and I have kids, it’ll probably hit more to say I played with my cousin,” Al said. “It is really a pretty amazing thing when you think about it.”

For Ben, the experience of having his cousin as a teammate has been a little bit humorous.

“I always like looking at the program and stuff like that. Al’s name is right before mine and right under him, and it says ‘Al’s cousin Ben plays for the team,’ and then under mine it says ‘Ben’s cousin Al plays for the team,” Ben said. “It’s kind of funny for me.”

But despite the family relations, hometown, and position similarities, the cousins insist they have several differences that make them unique.

“Our personalities are really quite different,” Al said. “I’m more of an outgoing guy, I guess. I’m outspoken a little more than Ben. He’s kind of quieter, just kind of more laid back I guess.”

And the differences don’t stop there.

“We’ve got different interests,” Ben said. “He likes his basketball and all those sports, and I like my hunting, I like my racecars.”

At the conclusion of next season these small differences won’t matter as much to the two cousins, as the one thing that binds them together the most will be gone. After playing on the same offensive line together through high school and college, Al and Ben will proceed to the next level without the other one as a teammate.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking about [not playing with Al],” Ben said. “It’s been 10 or 11 years now that we’ve been playing together, and it’s going to be different not playing next to Al anymore. I love that he’s playing next to me, and it’s going to be weird next year.”

But Al has a practical solution to the probable long-distance relationship he and his cousin will have to begin.

“That’s why they made cell phones I guess,” the center added.

However, that dreaded goodbye that the cousins will have to give each other is still an entire season of football away, a season in which both seniors have chosen to participate.