SEATTLE — Tripper Johnson’s baseball career was stuck in neutral when he thought again about giving football a try.
He was no longer a hot prospect out of Bellevue’s Newport High School when he finally decided to give up on one dream and pursue another. Johnson was only in his mid-20s, but in Class A ball and even AA, 25 can start to feel old after spending eight years in the minors.
But if Johnson felt age catching up with him in baseball, he must feel downright ancient playing football at Washington.
“They call me Uncle Trip, Old Man,” said Johnson, who at the age of 26 is a walk-on safety for the Huskies. “I enjoy it, I think it’s pretty funny.”
Adds sophomore safety Nate Williams, who graduated from high school seven years after Johnson: “We tease him all the time, we call him old timer and all of that. He hears it a lot from us.”
All joking aside, however, Nelson Alexander Johnson III is making quite an impression in his first year as a Husky. After knocking off the rust during spring football — he last played football in the fall of 1999 — Johnson continues to impress his coaches and teammates.
“I’ve said from the day that Tripper became a part of our football team, he would add a totally different dimension to our football team,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “His maturity, and what his focus is and his purpose is, is different than a guy that’s 18 years old. This is a guy that’s been out in the world, he’s been in an athletic environment, he’s tried to push his way through, and now he’s coming back into the collegiate environment. He brings a totally different perspective, and I think it’s a very positive perspective. Having him, first with his maturity and second with his skills, is a wonderful treat for us.”
Johnson is currently in the running for playing time at safety, and could also see the field on special teams. With Jason Wells still recovering from offseason knee surgery, and Victor Aiyewa and Williams battling nagging injuries, Johnson is seeing action with the first- and second-team defenses this fall.
“He came in this spring and did some good things and just let his natural ability flow,” defensive backs coach J.D. Williams said. “He has some ability. Now it’s just a matter of picking up the defense and everything. He’s a smart kid, so I’m pleased with his progress right now.”
Johnson’s road from millionaire baseball player to 26-year-old walk-on actually started while he was still in high school. A baseball and football star at Newport, Johnson signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Washington, and planned to walk-on to the football team. But when Baltimore selected him with the 32nd pick of the 2000 draft and offered him a seven-figure signing bonus, he couldn’t say no. The Orioles also offered to pick up tuition and books should Johnson decide to go back to school, something he’s taking advantage of now.
“When the draft was coming up my senior year, I thought my life could drastically change and it did,” he said. “I thought I was going to be a Husky my whole life, and when the draft came around, I got drafted in a situation high enough, and the money was right, and I also got my school paid for, so it was a situation I couldn’t turn down.”
Johnson, a third baseman, was far from a failure at baseball. At one time he was listed by Baseball America as one of the Orioles top-10 prospects, and he was an Eastern League and Carolina League All-Star, but after years of bouncing between High A ball and AA, he found himself without a team and at a crossroads.
Johnson’s former high school coach contacted the current Newport coach, who had contacts at Washington, and the wheels were set in motion for an unlikely walk-on to report to spring football. Because he took online classes while playing baseball, Johnson is considered a junior by the NCAA, but he is petitioning for a third year of eligibility. If granted, that would make Johnson 28 in his final season.
“It was tough,” Johnson said of leaving baseball behind. “Because I’ve always been a competitor and it’s hard to walk away from something. But also, I wanted to follow my passion. I’ve always loved football, and with my baseball career, my options were running very, very thin. I was a free agent in the fall [of 2007], and I didn’t really have a chance to sign a contract. I really didn’t have a good opportunity to go somewhere that I wanted to be. It was one of those things where I’d have to take another step back with a different team. … It just got to a point in my life where my career was kind of treading water and I just wasn’t happy with it and was ready to do something else.”
That something else turned out to be college football. Johnson is the oldest member of the team — and almost certainly the only one with a financial advisor — and that age and life experience gives him wisdom his teammates don’t yet possess.
“The biggest advantage of playing a professional sport is learning that you’re not going to have a great day every day,” he said. “When you’re struggling, you have to bounce back. You’re going to have your ups and downs, you’re going to make your mistakes, and what kind of character you are is shown in the way you bounce back. You’re going to struggle; in baseball you go weeks at a time without getting a hit. So I know I’m going to struggle, I know I’m going to make mistakes, but being a professional athlete, you have to have the confidence that you can come back and make the next play.”
And if that that next play comes on Autzen Stadium turf next weekend, he’ll likely hear one of his young teammates congratulate him with a, “Nice job, old man.”
Of note
Garcia plans on pushing himself: Center Juan Garcia continues his quick comeback from the Lisfranc sprain he suffered in April, and said Thursday that things are still going well. He had a brief scare Tuesday when Jordan White-Frisbee fell on his ankle, but said it was just that, a scare, and that he’s still on track to possibly get back for Oregon.
“It’s good,” he said. “We’re ahead of schedule.”
Garcia planned testing his foot Thursday during the team’s scrimmage to see how it holds up.
“I think today I’m going to really push it, then next week I’ll really grind it and see how it holds up,” he said.
Official visit: Willingham said the Huskies would have officials on hand for Thursday’s scrimmage, something the team tries to do at least once before the start of the season.
Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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