Cal Football: Brett Johnson's 1,001-Day Journey Back to the Playing Field

The Bears' defensive lineman perseveres through the motto, `Win where your feet are.'

In his long march back to football following separate injuries that have wiped out the past two seasons, Cal defensive lineman Brett Johnson leans on advice he once got from a high school coach.

“Win where your feet are,” Johnson said. “Don’t worry about the past, don’t worry about the future. Handle the moment you currently are in. That’s all we ever can do.”

It’s a healthy, perhaps necessary, approach to the rehab and recovery that have consumed his days after fracturing his left hip in a car accident in the spring of 2021 and tearing the ACL in his right right knee during fall camp last summer.

Johnson most recently played in a game on Dec. 5, 2020 — the Bears’ 21-17 season-ending victory over Oregon. He is being held out of Cal’s current spring practices but is on schedule to be full speed ahead by the start of camp in August.

“I should be good to go by the time the season starts,” said the 6-foot-5, 295-pound redshirt junior, who could be the Bears' most impactful defensive player if he returns fully healthy.

Cal’s opening game is Sept. 2 at North Texas — a span of 1,001 days since the Oregon victory.

“That’s a lot of days. To be honest, I don’t even keep count that way. That’s kind of a crazy perspective,” he says in the video above. “It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. But it does — it feels like it’s been a while.”

Johnson, a native of Phoenix, remains convinced he will be as good as ever when he finally steps back on the field on game day.

“Very much optimistic, very much excited,” he said. “I’m keeping my cool about it. I’m not sitting here obsessing about it, letting it consume me. But when that moment comes I’ll be very ready for it.”

Cal coach Justin Wilcox is constantly impressed by Johnson’s will to battle back from two catastrophic setbacks.

“Brett loves football. He works extremely hard at it,” Wilcox says in the video above. "When it comes to physical, mental, emotional toughness, and you roll all those into one and he is up there now.

“People bounce back from injuries — that’s part of football, that’s part of life. But to go through what he’s gone through, and his attitude towards it, not a guy that gets fazed very easily.”

Wilcox has been around a lot of football, as both a player and coach. He calls Johnson a rare breed.

“Quite a few people would have a real hard time bouncing back from something like that.” Wilcox said. “But he is just wired different.”

It seems likely even Johnson didn’t know he would handle things as well as he has. There is no way to test yourself until the circumstances arrive.

“Even I surprised myself by how well I kind of pivot my mentality to bounce back from this kind of stuff,” he says in the video at the top of this story. ‘The key to me was just being as pragmatic as possible about my approach to my rehab and my approach to the reality of my life with these injuries.

“As much as I wish I didn’t have this happen to me, I can’t focus on that because I’m putting energy towards something that’s not real. What’s real is what has happened to me and what I’m living with right now. I need to live every day just pragmatic, one step at a time and address reality as it is with my health and move forward to try to improve it every day.”

Johnson said the knee injury hurt more immediately after surgery, but the pain subsided more quickly. With his hip injury, the pain wasn’t as severe but lasted longer.

“They both suck,” he allowed.

Johnson’s dream of playing in the NFL remains a driving force for him. He has three years of eligibility remaining, but has no idea what pro teams think about him right now or what his timetable for turning pro might be.

He expects the Cal defensive line to be better this season, although to be fair, just his presence will make a difference.

“I feel like we’re coming with some new juice this year,” he said. “I think last year we left some stuff on the table, honestly. I wasn’t on the field so I couldn’t even be at the table in that regard. But this year we’re coming different so I’m excited to see what the boys can do.”

Beyond that, Johnson isn’t in the business of making predictions. He understands it's easy to feel upbeat this time of the year.

“Everyone says that . . . `Oh, this year, new guys, new mentality. We’re going to come back better. New year, new me.’ Every team in America is saying that,” he said. “It’s spring ball — everyone’s happy to be back. Everyone’s juiced.

“This is a long game. I’m not going to count my chickens until they hatch. We’re working to be the best but we’ve still got a lot to prove.”

Johnson always returns to the present, the only thing he can control. He admits having moments over the past two years when he wondered, “Why me?”

“But not in the way that I’m feeling sorry for myself. More from the perspective of what is this trying to tell me?” he said.

He decided it means everything happens for a reason, which prompts another, obvious question: What exactly is the reason for what has happened to him?

And does he chase that question? “I can try,” Johnson said, “but I might go mad trying to find the answer.”

Instead, there is this: “Focus on what is and master the moment.”

Cover photo of Cal defensive lineman Brett Johnson

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo