USD Magazine Fall 2006

TORERO ATHLET I CS

[ n o r e g r e t s ]

QUICK THINKER For quar terback Josh Johnson, fai lure is simply not an opt ion

by Tom Shanahan

A

Coast offense. He spreads the ball around while running up staggering numbers that sound like they’re generated from a video game instead of Torero Stadium. Last year, USD claimed the school’s first outright Pioneer Foot- ball League championship with an 11-1 record. The Toreros won the PFL North Division title and beat PFL South Division champion Morehead State in the league championship, 47-40. Johnson threw for 375 yards and five touch- down passes — all in the first half —without an interception. “Personally, I want to exceed what I did last year, but I don’t put pressure on myself to try and do too much,” he says. “I don’t want to be a one-year wonder. I’m my own worst critic, and I’ve watched film from last year. I understand what I have to be like to be better this year.” In his first year as a starter, Johnson completed 70.1 per- cent of his passes (260 of 371) for 3,256 yards, with 36 touch- down passes. The completions, TD tosses and yardage totals are school records. He was named a first-team All-American for Division I-AA Mid-Major schools by two rating services, The Sports Network and Don Hansen’s Football Gazette. “If there was an SAT for foot- ball, he would blow it away,” Harbaugh says of Johnson’s quarterback savvy.

funny thing happened to Josh Johnson on his way to USD. He

thought he was off to gain an education and play football, leaving behind the gritty streets of Oakland for the picturesque campus of a small, private school. But while his new home, Alcalá Park, remains beautiful, as the record-setting quarter- back prepares for his junior season with the Toreros, it turns out that the more success he enjoys, the more his heart and soul are drawn back to his roots. What Johnson didn’t antici- pate was the growing responsi- bility he’d feel, both as a big brother and a role model to students coming up behind him at his urban-blighted high school, Oakland Tech. “I come from a place where there’s not too much,” he says. “I’ve been home, and I know my high school coaches and people want me to succeed. My little brother is playing quarterback now, and he calls to ask me stuff. He never did that when I was home. Our rela- tionship has grown. I notice the vibes from other younger guys at my high school, too. I don’t want to fail, because it might affect other people. It’s not just about yourself anymore.” Funny, but “it’s not just about yourself” also describes the way Johnson understands his role in head coach Jim Harbaugh’s West

Torero quarterback Josh Johnson didn’t plan on becoming a role model, but he soon realized he answers to more than just himself.

“He’s got athletic ability, he’s got arm strength, he’s got great location with the ball, and his best attribute is his mind,” Harbaugh says. “He’s a quick thinker.” Johnson, who says he comes from a family of late bloomers, finally began growing and arrived at USD with NFL height of

Big-time college recruiters missed out on Johnson because he was only a 5-foot-11, 145- pounder when he attended recruiting combines the summer before his senior year. That gave Harbaugh, a former NFL quarter- back for 15 seasons, a chance to land a player he believes can develop into an NFL draft pick.

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