A New Beginning for Brian Johnson
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It's been a long journey for Cabrillo College (Santa Cruz, Calif.) cornerback Brian Johnson that initially started two seasons ago at Foothill College (Los Altos Hills, Calif.).
"It started my freshman year, in 2011. I started my first year and got hurt and I was doing pretty good, I had two picks but I got hurt and torn my meniscus and had to have surgery," Johnson said.
What made things more difficult for Johnson was the sudden passing of Foothill College head coach Doug Boyett in January of 2012.
"I was almost able to play this past season, but it was iffy. Our offensive coordinator became our new head coach and I just wanted to see how the year played out with him being the new head coach and everything. It went downhill, the head coach (Doug Boyett) had passed away and my defensive backs coach went to the AFL, so the two guys that had been helping me were both gone."
After a sad, tumultuous season - Johnson went back to the drawing board and has found himself with a fresh start at a new destination.
"I went home (Florida) that November and just worked because I couldn't get loans for my classes, so I worked in order to get back to California. Now, I'm at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz (Calif.) doing spring ball out here and my knee is feeling pretty good and I'm just trying to get my name back out there and just hoping to have a great season and go from there."
The 5-foot-9, 175-pounder has been working hard this spring and is re-introducing himself to college coaches around the country.
"I've been emailing new coaches, just trying to get in touch with what I've been doing and sending them old highlight tapes, my background, and articles - so I'm waiting to hear back from that," explained Johnson. "I actually emailed WKU's secondary coach my information recently."
"Recently in the last few months I've talked with Abilene Christian, South Carolina State, and my new head coach (Bill Garrison at Cabrillo) said he had some BCS schools call about me but he just told me about USC. North Texas is suppose to see how I play this year coming off my injury, but I'll see how that goes."
With Johnson at full-strength for the 2013 season, opposing receivers should expect very physical play from the defensive back they call "Sticky."
"I'm very aggressive, I love to hit. I mean, that's football and I just grew up like that so I love to hit and I like to put my hands on the receiver and take them out of their whole game and get real aggressive, make them mad where they want to hit me and I really like to press. I like to get sticky with receivers."
Brian Johnson High School Highlights