Johnson played college football at the University of Arizona and attended Rogers High School in Puyallup, Washington.
While at Arizona, he earned two all conference honors and he would break many school records including most passing yards in a game.
He won the 2001 Woody Hayes Award as the top male scholar-athlete in Division I sports.
The Raiders lost in the Austrian league semi final, but Johnson helped the Raiders to win the European championship Euro Bowl XXIII defeating the La Courneuve Flash of France 30-19.
[9] He won a Sports Emmy award for Outstanding Short Feature for his work with ESPN's College GameDay on a story about Maryland defensive end Melvin Kiehn.