Cal Football: Justin Wilcox Not Worried About Brett Johnson's Latest Comeback

Wilcox on Johnson's relentless approach: `He is just kind of a unique character.'

The early All-Pac-12 football projections and NFL mocks drafts are beginning to surface and notably absent from of them is Cal defensive lineman Brett Johnson.

There’s a good reason for that — the 6-foot-5, 295-pound redshirt junior has missed the past two seasons with a pair of unrelated injuries. Johnson hasn’t played in a game since the Bears’ 21-17 win over Oregon on Dec. 5, 2020.

Yes, that was nearly 26 months ago.

He fractured his hip in an automobile accident in the spring of 2021, then suffered a season-ending lower-body injury in late August, just prior to the start of the ’22 season.

Cal coach Justin Wilcox announced Wednesday that while Johnson is making good progress in his latest comeback, he will be held out of spring workouts, set to begin March 11.

“Mentally and emotionally, Brett’s going to be one of those guys . . . things don’t faze Brett,” Wilcox says in the video above. “He’s been through a lot the last two years — two season-ending injuries. And for some folks that might be something that would be tough to overcome or seem insurmountable.

“But he is just kind of a unique character that way. After the injury he had last fall, he missed his second year in a row, which is rough. I think for about a day he was in the tank and after that he’s just like a machine. He comes in, he works out, he does his rehab. He’s got a really impressive mindset. I’m not worried about him, mentally or emotionally.”

Johnson was the Bears’ best defensive lineman in 2020, perhaps even by the end of his freshman year in 2019. ESPN’s Todd McShay had him listed as the No. 40 prospect for the 20223 NFL draft before Johnson’s most recent setback. He is versatile, able to play inside or at the end.

He’s been sort of out of sight, out of mind the past two seasons.

He had 20 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss, during the 2020 scheduled, limited by COVID-10 to four games. In 2019, Johnson earned third-team Freshman All-America honors from Pro Football Focus after totaling 26 tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss while starting seven of the final eight games.

Wilcox is convinced the Bears will see the same player next fall.

“Physically he looks really good. It’s been a couple years, but I think he’s going to come back and play really good football. I wouldn’t expect anything else,” Wilcox said.

Johnson’s activity level during 15 spring practices will be quite limited, Wilcox said.

“He’ll do some things in the spring, but we’ll hold him out of essentially everything that would be contact,” Wilcox said. “He’ll be moving around on the side, things like that.”

Cover photo of Brett Johnson by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos

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