Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles said he was “shocked” running back Roschon Johnson was still on the board when the Bears drafted him in the fourth round last month. The Bears believe they are bringing in a player who can help them in many ways on and off the field.

Texas running backs coach Tashard Choice saw all of the ways Johnson can affect a team as the senior totaled 93 carries for 554 yards and five touchdowns in 2022 as the backup to Bijan Robinson — the No. 8 pick in the draft.

Choice spoke recently to the Tribune about what type of player and leader Johnson can be for the Bears. Here’s that interview, edited for clarity.

Note: This is part of a series of conversations with the college position coaches of this year’s Bears draft picks.

How would you describe Roschon as a player?

Roschon is an old-school, old-fashioned, rough-and-tough football player. Just a pro in all the aspects of the game.

We have heard a lot from the Bears about his leadership. What can you tell us about how he showed that?

Ro leads by … I don’t like to say just by example. He works harder than anybody on the football team, but he also is a voice in the locker room that people respect. He’s never overbearing. He never speaks out of place. His accountability, his leadership, he does all of the little things to make sure the team wins. And he’s a team-first guy. Before he became a leader, he was a great teammate, and that’s what makes Ro excel in this role.

How did he handle playing a backup role to Robinson?

Bijan is probably one of the best running backs that I’ve seen athletically, talent-wise. But for Ro to be a selfless dude who, if he was on another team, he’s probably carrying the ball 20-25 times. Even though Bijan was the all-star player in the room, Ro was our leader in our room. He was the dawg in the room. A lot of times Bijan was carrying the football, Ro was blocking for him. And he was a core special teams guy as well.

I really believe he respected Bijan so much because B worked hard. If Bijan didn’t work hard, Ro would have had a problem with it. But since he did, Ro was OK with playing alongside people that were built with the right stuff like him.

How has Roschon’s background as a quarterback helped him?

As far as knowing the game, it helped him because he had to realize defenses. When you’re a quarterback, you have to make sure all 10 are set. We did a lot of stuff in wildcat, which he was natural doing because he did it a lot in high school. But for Ro, his progression, his progress of being a better running back, I think he elevated that because there’s a difference between running the ball like he did from the quarterback position and running the ball like a running back. He changed that, which was really good.

The Bears talked about being creative with him on offense. Is that something you were able to do with him?

Him playing in the wildcat, that always gives the offense (options). Plus the fact he can actually throw the football, that can help. The year before I got there, he played against K-State and our quarterbacks were down, and Ro had to play the whole game as the wildcat quarterback. We won, so that just tells you.

But I think what they meant by that is we did a lot of stuff out of 20 personnel, meaning we had two backs in the game, him and Bijan at the same time. Him being able to run routes, being able to block, being able to do all of the little things and run the football as well — because he can be a heck of a running back. I don’t want people to forget he can tote the rock. He’s able to be on the football field, so now you have your best 11 on the football field, even if it’s two running backs.

You mentioned his blocking. How is he as a blocker?

Unbelievable. He runs through people’s faces, and he’s going to let you know about it. And he’s going to do it over and over again. He doesn’t shy away from contact. When you see kids that are built like that, you know it’s going to translate well to the NFL because that’s what the league is all about — alpha dogs.

What’s your favorite moment of his on the field?

There are a couple. I’ve got some plays on tape where he’s blocking and he’s absolutely mauling folks out there and he’s doing it over and over again. It’s the K-State game, the Baylor game. You can see him mauling folks. And he had some runs this year I thought were absolutely brutal. He ran over the linebacker from Oklahoma and he came back and hit the safety again on a run against Oklahoma. And you could see his brute force, playing with his player temperament. He was the hammer not the nail that day. You could see it. He was running the football on a different level.

Do you have a favorite moment of his off the field in terms of his leadership?

Off the field … Ro is a gym rat. When we had meetings and I wanted to go over blitz pickup and get the backs some extra film to look at, I loved the fact Ro was the one that was always leading that. If he had questions, so he made sure he knew how to translate it to the other running backs, he was able to ask, “Hey, Coach, what about this? What about this?”

He’s eager for information, so the more and more he’s in the system, he wants to know everything. He wants to know the how and the why. He’s not a kid you can tell him something and he just says OK. He wants to know why. Why are we doing this? How? What’s the reason for this? Because that’s ultimately how he gets himself better. He wants to know the whole, not just his part. And I guess that’s one of the things that has helped him tremendously.

What was the draft like for you as a coach with Robinson going No. 8; Jahmyr Gibbs, whom you coached at Georgia Tech, going No. 12; and Roschon going in the fourth round?

Unbelievable. When I was drafted (in the fourth round in 2008), I was excited but it was more like I was pissed off because of where I was drafted. Now let’s go to work because I knew I had a lot of work in front of me. Sort of how you saw Ro when he was drafted. I believe Ro believes he’s better than where he got drafted, but since he’s in the door, he’s about to roll.

For me, seeing those guys reach their dreams and become the players they wanted to become and reach the NFL, it’s a real feeling of gratitude. I’m thankful for those guys because they’re good kids. To see them excel, to see them do the right things because they’re good on and off the field … it’s unbelievable.

Since the Bears will face Gibbs with the Detroit Lions twice a year now, what type of player are they going up against?

Electric. He loves ball. He’s a big-time player every time he gets the ball in his hands. I can’t say enough good things about him. I’ve got a lot of respect for Gibbs because of where he comes from. For him to get to this point and be a first-round running back, that speaks volumes about him.

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