April 27, 2008
Josh Johnson became USD's first football player to be selected in the NFL Draft when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers picked him in the 5th round (160 pick overall). Tampa Bay, coached by Jon Gruden, went 9-7 this past season and were the NFC South Champions. Johnson, who was MVP of the East-West Shrine game back in January, wrapped up his stellar career with the Toreros this past November. He was in his hometown of Oakland, California, with family and friends while waiting for his name to be called.
Johnson heads to a program in Tampa that currently lists six QBs: Jeff Garcia, Brian Griese, Luke McCown, Chris Simms, Bruce Gradkowski and Jake Plummer. Yet having spent his entire career at USD running the West Coast offense, Johnson has at least one advantage in that Tampa Bay employs a similar attack.
"It feels great, I'm ecstatic," said Johnson. "It's a perfect fit, a blessing in disguise. I knew how many quarterbacks they had, but we didn't even talk about that. Coach Gruden just said he wanted me to come in and work and he was real excited to work with me. I'm going to go in there this week and get it going."
Johnson finished 3rd in the final voting for the Walter Payton Award, and was a 2nd Team AP All-American and 3rd Team Sports Network All-American. In 2007 he tossed a school record 43 touchdowns while ranking first in the nation in total offense, passing efficiency and points responsible for. He leaves USD with all the career passing records and also is the new NCAA career leader in passing efficiency with a 176.68 rating.
"I was very excited for the team he went to," said head coach Ron Caragher. "Jon Gruden and Tampa are well known for the West Coast offense they run. Josh can step right in with their system and I feel will be a great fit. He'll definitely get a chance there."
For his career he completed 724-of-1,065 passes (.680) for 9,699 yards and 113 touchdowns (with just 15 picks). He also proved a threat on the ground as he finished with 1,864 yards rushing on 307 attempts (6.1 ave.) with 19 career rushing scores. As a three-year starter for the Toreros he was 30-4 and led San Diego to two Mid-Major Sports Network championships and three PFL conference titles. He finished with 11,563 yards of total offense.
