EWU football coach Beau Baldwin said Johnson’s appeal to the NCAA to grant him a sixth year to complete his four years of eligibility has been approved.
Johnson, a linebacker out of Tumwater High, played four games last season before a chronic tear in his left patellar tendon ended his season in late September. He had surgery shortly thereafter. It was the same injury that required surgery in June 2009. Johnson then missed EWU’s entire 2009 season after a blood clot developed in his leg after the surgery.
In his first five years in the program, Johnson had 19 games wiped out because of the same knee injury – 12 in 2009 and the last seven as a senior co-captain in 2011. He earned second team All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2010 when he started all 15 games, helping the Eagles to a 13-2 record and the FCS national championship.
“It’s exciting, and we’re happy for Zach,” said Baldwin. “He deserved to get a sixth year based on the injuries he suffered and what he’s gone through. We couldn’t be happier to have Zach back with us.
“He feels really good right now. He’s been in the weight room doing everything he can in there. You can’t predict how injuries are going to go for anybody, but he’s showing great progress with his rehab, how he’s moving and how he’s lifting. He feels very good about his body, maybe even better than previous seasons at this time.”
COUGS BOOT MIZELL
Washington State starting linebacker C.J. Mizell has been kicked off the team after he was arrested last weekend in connection with a fight at a fraternity house.
Coach Mike Leach said Mizell was no longer on the team because of a violation of team policy after he was arrested Sunday on misdemeanor charges of assault and trespassing.
Pullman police say Mizell, who had previous discipline problems at WSU, tried to enter a party at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house on Saturday night. When he was denied entry, police say, Mizell punched one of the members and fled.
EXTRA POINTS
UNLV coach Bobby Hauck has shuffled his staff, moving tight ends coach and Seattle native Brent Myers to offensive coordinator and defensive backs coach J.D. Williams to defensive coordinator. Both are former Washington assistants, and Williams is the older brother of former Husky Curtis Williams, who died in 2002 after being paralyzed by a hit in 2000. … A misdemeanor drug charge against former Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, who is skipping his senior season to enter the NFL draft, has been dropped. … Michigan has already sold out its allotment of 25,000 tickets to the Cowboys Classic game in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 1 against national champion Alabama. … Jason Gesser and Torey Hunter, two former WSU standout players and current Idaho assistants, have been lauded for their recruiting efforts with the Vandals. Scout/FOXSportsNext named Gesser, a former assistant coach at Federal Way and Franklin Pierce high schools, the recruiter of the year in the Western Athletic Conference. Hunter, a former star at Curtis High, recently took over as Idaho’s recruiting coordinator, and Scout.com rated Idaho’s recruiting class No. 1 in the WAC.
