Link to Brian Johnson story
Concentrated effort
Johnson's focus leads to big season
BY MIKE CHERRY • FLORIDA TODAY • June 1, 2008
Cocoa Beach coaches outside of the baseball team must stare at Brian Johnson and wonder.
"Is there any way we can rent him for a weekend?"
At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Johnson is a speciman who seems built to succeed at a multitude of sports. A doctor, in fact, recently told the 17-year-old junior that he could still grow an inch or two and comfortably expand to about 240 pounds. With those dimensions and his athletic ability, perhaps other Minutemen teams could borrow Johnson for a week or two.
No such luck, however. Johnson is committed to baseball. The first baseman/pitcher gave other sports a try. He was a quarterback in the seventh through ninth grades at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High, which is a six-year school and thus permits athletes to represent the school in uniform starting in seventh grade. Johnson also tried basketball in the eighth grade.
"I didn't quit (football) because I didn't like it," Johnson said. "But I saw the potential in baseball getting better than other sports."
His concentration has paid off in several forms. For one, the University of Florida extended him a scholarship offer last year and he accepted.
Johnson's verbal commitment does not become binding, of course, until he signs during his scholastic senior year. Other schools, therefore, are still sending correspondence. Johnson said some days he receives as many as "eight, nine" letters from colleges.
Two, he has become the dominant two-way player in Brevard County high school baseball, swinging a lively bat and confounding opposing hitters with his left-handed deliveries. For that reason, Johnson was selected as FLORIDA TODAY's Baseball Player of the Year by the newspaper's sports staff.
Although a Cocoa Beach team that sometimes started as many as three seventh-graders bowed out of the postseason in a district first-round game, Johnson nonetheless excelled as his teammates gained necessary experience.
At the plate, Johnson hit .540 in 25 games. His totals included 10 doubles, eight homers, 23 RBI, 23 runs and 15 walks. He produced 16 multiple-hit games.
Pitching, however, is the reason Florida offered a scholarship. Johnson was 5-3 in 12 games with a 0.44 ERA in 612/3 innings. He permitted just 27 hits and struck out 94. This season, he only allowed three earned runs and walked 21 despite a mentality of keeping his pitches low.
An example of his 2008 fate at times occurred in a district game against Titusville. Cocoa Beach lost 1-0 as Johnson, who had doubled during the game, permitted just one hit, but fell on an unearned run.
"I thought we did a lot better than a lot of people thought we would," Johnson said. "I was really proud of my season. I worked hard."
Over the past two seasons, Johnson has established himself as a man who yields little from the mound. In 2007, when he helped Cocoa Beach upset its way into regional play, he was 6-4 with a 0.98 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 65 innings. He also hit .435 with nine doubles and four home runs.
So, shouldn't Johnson share the statistical wealth -- with other sports at his school?
"I miss (football) a lot," Johnson said. "I just didn't want to risk getting hurt."
Contact Cherry at 242-3684 or mcherry@floridatoday.com
Link to Florida Today video of Brian Johnson
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