El Toro Quarterback Bret Johnson Says He Is Going to Play for UCLA

Quarterback Bret Johnson of El Toro High School, named the state’s player of the year by Cal-Hi Sports of Sacramento, announced Monday that he will attend UCLA in the fall.

Johnson led El Toro to two consecutive Southern Conference championships, and passed for 6,538 yards and 63 touchdowns in his three-year varsity career.

Johnson, 6-feet-1 and 175 pounds, made recruiting trips to Notre Dame, USC, Penn State and UCLA and canceled a trip to Arizona State. He made his final trip to UCLA over the weekend and decided Sunday evening.

“I know some people thought it was cut and dry, that I was going to UCLA all along, but it wasn’t that way at all,” Johnson said. “I really didn’t know where I was going until Sunday morning.”

Many assumed Johnson would choose UCLA because his father and El Toro coach, Bob Johnson, was an instructor in Terry Donahue’s summer camp during his son’s junior season.

Johnson plans to redshirt his freshman season with an impressive group of quarterbacks ahead of him. Troy Aikman returns for his senior year in 1988, with senior Brendan McCracken listed as his backup.

Other top quarterbacks at UCLA include sophomore Ron Caragher (San Jose Bellarmine Prep), sophomore Bobby San Jose (Long Beach Wilson) and sophomore Jim Bonds (Newhall Hart).