Twins
September 26, 2018
There have been some stories about schools signing identical twins to their football programs. Notre Dame features the Ademilola twins, Justin and Jayson. Michigan has the Green twins, Gemon and German.
The use of twins on the field goes back a long way. Over a century ago Yale coach Walter Camp debuted two twins who truly changed the game, Albert and Elvin Johnson. They manned the defensive line and made the Bulldogs a very tough team to run on. They did have a big advantage - people often said that Albert and Elvin were joined at the hip and they were being literal. The Johnsons were famous conjoined twins from PT Barnum's circus who took advantage of their large shared girth to singlehandedly destroy the effectiveness of the old Flying Wedge formation. Coach Camp recently told me about the one time they came out of the shower room and Coach Camp said "wow, that's one big Johnson!". Even though they were quite a crowd draw, their circus income meant the NCAA ruled them ineligible.
That ruling soon expanded to all potential athletes who spent the summer touring with circuses. Thus ended the football career of the Elephant Man, who went on to be the mascot for the Alabama Crimson Tide. And now you know the rest of the story.