Brett Johnson was one of two California collegiate student-athletes announced Tuesday as selections for the CalHOPE Courage Award for December of 2023. The award, presented monthly since February 2022 by the College Sports Communicators in association with the Associated Press, honors student-athletes at California colleges and universities who have overcome the stress, anxiety and mental trauma associated with personal hardships and adversity. Cal State Dominguez Hills volleyball player Gabbie Silva was recognized along with Johnson.

Johnson's is the second Cal selection by the organization. Previously, twin sisters Anysa and Amaya Gray (women's soccer) were honored with the 2023 CalHOPE Courage Award at the end of the 2022-23 academic year after being a monthly selection in October of 2022.

Below is a closer look at Johnson's story and notes on his career with an extended bio available by clicking on his name.
 
Brett Johnson, DL, 6-5, 295, R-Jr., 5th Season At Cal (Phoenix, Ariz./Desert Vista HS)
On December 5, 2020, Brett Johnson played the final game of his second season at Cal and many college football insiders anticipated a bright future for the Golden Bears' defensive lineman. In his first two seasons, he played in all 17 games, recording 46 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, and one fumble recovery at a position for which stats rarely tell the entire story. He was named a third-team Freshman All-American and earned third-team All-Pac-12 honors from Pro Football Focus as a 2019 collegiate rookie.

 Little did anyone know that it would be another 1,001 days before the Phoenix native would play in another college football game. Just before the team's 2021 spring game, Johnson suffered a serious hip injury in an automobile accident that would cost him the entire season. Following a year of intensive recovery and rehabilitation of his hip and just weeks before the start of the 2022 campaign, Johnson would be injured again, this time suffering a torn ACL during a training camp practice that caused him to miss all of 2022.

"I was able to handle the two injuries by pivoting my attention with relative ease," Johnson said. "I found myself with more time and freedom to explore life outside of football that I otherwise would not have had. The greatest gift I gained from these injuries was being able to become closer with my friends in Berkeley. These are the people who supported me through everything and made sure I was mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in line. I stayed above water on the mental side very well during the hip injury and rehab. The nature of that injury and everything that went into it gave me a larger perspective on my mortality, so I was just thankful to be alive. The ACL injury, while being a relatively easy injury compared to the hip, brought a lot more mental and emotional hardship due to the compounding of the hip injury along with other factors in my personal life that were sources of struggle. While those mental and physical struggles were not easy to deal with, it made it so much sweeter when I came back to the field."

Johnson returned to action for the 2023 season opener at North Texas on Sept. 2, and went on to start all 12 regular-season games for Cal during a 2023 campaign that culminated with a berth in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl versus Texas Tech. Johnson recorded 23 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 0.5 tackles for loss, one pass breakup and one fumble recovery on his way to earning national semifinalist recognition for AP Comeback Player of the Year.

Johnson has played in 29 games with 25 starts since arriving at Cal as a true freshman in 2019 and posted career totals of 69 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss (-28 yards), 3.5 sacks (-21 yards), two pass breakups and two fumble recoveries.
 
About CalHOPE and the CalHOPE Courage Award
CalHOPE is a multi-level campaign run by the Department of Healthcare Services to connect people with vital mental health and wellness resources and information to help them navigate during times of crisis. CalHOPE offers critical behavioral health crisis counseling programs and uses a public health approach that is focused on strength-based strategies of building resiliency and connecting people to the support they need. CalHOPE partners with the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Mental Well-Being to promote the CalHOPE Courage Award. CalHOPE resources may be accessed by calling the program's warm line at (833) 317-HOPE (4673), accessing the live chat feature, or visiting calhope.org.

Stories about all CalHOPE Courage Award honorees are available at CalHOPECourageAward.org and via social media at @CalHOPE_Courage.