Johnson Back With Bruins

Without commenting about the specifics but with a general apology for his actions, Kris Johnson returned to UCLA practice Monday, still suspended from games but clearly on a path toward full reinstatement by mid-December.

Seven weeks after he and Jelani McCoy were indefinitely suspended for violation of athletic department policy and team rules, UCLA announced that Johnson had “met all criteria required for reinstatement” and added that McCoy had not.

Though both Johnson and Coach Steve Lavin said there was no timetable for his return to game action, sources close to the situation have said for weeks that he is slated to suit up for the first time in UCLA’s Dec. 13 home opener against Cal State Fullerton, the Bruins’ fifth game.

Lavin confirmed that Johnson definitely will not accompany the team on its season-opening trip to Anchorage for the team’s three games at the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 27-29.

Johnson, a 6-foot-4 senior swingman counted on to provide bulk and scoring to this season’s team, spoke about the suspension for the first time Monday evening after his first practice, but said he would not speak about what he did to incur it.

Citing privacy concerns, UCLA has neither confirmed nor denied reports that Johnson and McCoy were suspended for testing positive for drug use several times.

“Oh, definitely,” Johnson said when asked if he had disappointed himself. “But I make mistakes, I’m human. We’ve all made mistakes. The key is how you bounce back from those mistakes and how you rectify those mistakes. And I think I’ve done that and will continue to do that.”

Johnson admitted that at first, he considered walking away from it all and not even attempting to play basketball at UCLA again, but his father, Marques Johnson, helped him through the negative thoughts.

“That stuff definitely crossed my mind but I had to come back down, come on, let’s be serious, I’m not just going to throw away something like an opportunity to play basketball, and the university gave me the opportunity to come back,” Johnson said.

After a year together as roommates, Johnson said he recently moved out of the dorm suite he and McCoy shared “for a change of pace,” he said.

“I guess we’re not the greatest combination because we’re so much alike,” said Johnson, who was much more visible around the team during his suspension than McCoy has been.

“Jelani, he’s a lot more quiet than I am. I want to be around, I just like getting out. I couldn’t stay up and just hide. I just want to face it. I’m not saying he didn’t. . . . But he’s still taking care of his business, he just does it in a different way.”

Both Johnson and Lavin said that though McCoy’s progress has not been as swift as Johnson’s, he is working toward a reinstatement. Two weeks ago, there were two reports that McCoy would not return to UCLA this season.

“I’m still encouraged by Jelani,” Lavin said. “Kris has moved faster in terms of meeting the criteria. But Jelani has made progress. I’m encouraged by him.”

Johnson said he could be in game condition in a couple of weeks, and pointed out that he has missed big parts of preseason practice in three of his four Bruin seasons.

“Now I have to be a leader or a role model, if I can be,” Johnson said. “I have to lead the right way, instead of leading the wrong way.”