Charles Collins: Chad Johnson looks stronger

There's been a lot of speculation this off-season about Chad "we still refuse to call a grown man Ochocinco" Johnson. Will he be traded? If so, for what? After the months quietly passed, he wasn't traded. The question evolved, will he be motivated? Is he working out, staying in shape? Will he return to the team in peak condition with enough time for he and Carson Palmer to start working together, full time for the first time since 2007?

While our wide receiver hasn't appeared much publicly, Geoff Hobson writes that Charles Collins, Johnson's former junior college coach, notices some change.

Collins, The Ocho's junior college coach who runs the receivers camp known as "The Phenom Factory" in the Los Angeles area, says Ochocinco looks to be about 200 pounds and that he appears to have strengthened the shoulder he separated last season with conditioning in Miami before he headed west to work with him on the field.

Collins said their first day was Monday and he expects him at the camp through Memorial Day, which means Ochocinco won't be at the first two weeks of voluntary workouts. The first workout is a week from Tuesday.

"I don't know what he'll do after that, but I expect him to be at the minicamp," said Collins of the June 18-20 mandatory weekend. "He knows he had a bad year last year. He wants to get his name back where it was. He's not the same guy as last year. He looks stronger."

Collins says that it's a foregone conclusion that Johnson will play for the Bengals and that apparently he's accepted that. Great. We can move on! Check in next week.