johnson

socalogo.gif (8739 bytes)
SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Teyo Johnson & Amon Gordon To Move To SD;
High Five Helps Mira Mesa--(Aug. 5, 1999)

The Seattle Times yesterday, and the San Diego Union Tribune today, confirmed what everyone in San Diego, especially High Five America has known for weeks: That Teyo Johnson (6'-7" Sr. PF) will be moving to San Diego and will attend Mira Mesa High School where he will play both basketball and football. What a lot of people didn't know though was that Johnson will be joined by his Everett Washington Mariner High teammate Amon Gordon (6'-4" Sr. SG/SF), who also played with High Five this summer at the Nike Summer National Championships.

Both of these guys are big time players, and with Teyo attending Mariner, it makes them an instant contender for a state title. According to newspaper accounts, both Johnson and Gordon will reside together in San Diego with Johnson's father who is closing a lumber business in Bellingham. Johnson's mother will in all likelihood stay in Washington, where she works for a local community college.

Johnson's high school football coach in Washington, John Ondriezek told reporters he wasn't shocked, because he'd actually been approached by a college coach a week ago who relayed the rumors of Johnson's transfer. "I wish I would have heard it from them first and not through a college coach," Ondriezek told the Seattle Times. "It's disappointing." Dexter Griffen, the Mariner basketball coach, was told Tuesday, after returning from vacation, and he also told the paper, "I didn't know what to think. I was already thinking about holes we needed to fill because we lost so many seniors. ... They were our only returning starters."

Johnson has played three-sports at Mariner. As a quarterback on the football team, he passed for 1,190 yards and nine touchdowns, rushed for six touchdowns, and started at defensive end. In basketball, he averaged 17 points and 13 rebounds, and his team finished third in State last year, beating the defending champs, and he the tournament MVP with 11.3 rebounds and a tournament-high 22.8 points. He also qualified for the State Championships in track but didn't compete because of his High Five obligations. Gordon rushed for more than 1,000 yards, and started at linebacker, and was the second-leading scorer in basketball behind Johnson last year.

According to the Seattle Times, Johnson is only considering colleges that will let him play both sports. Rle Nichols, his High Five coach says that he's been trying to convince him to just concentrate on basketball: "I think that he can still be an NFL prospect even if he doesn't play football in college. He's that good. It would just be a shame to see him lose his chance to continue with basketball if he got injured playing football," Rle told us just after the conclusion of the Nike Summer National Championships. Still, the ultimate decision is Johnson's and it's rumored that a lot of schools will let him play both sports, including Notre Dame (which was at the Nike Summer National Championships last week), Florida State, Stanford, Penn State, UCLA, USC and Washington. There is also speculation that in addition to the schools listed above, that Johnson might also consider playing at San Diego State. According to the Union Tribune report, he called SDSU's facilities "amazing."

Coincidentally, the basketball coach at Mira Mesa High School, Dan Regas, is also affiliated with High Five and worked with both players throughout the summer as an assistant.