Texas Longhorns

Why incoming Texas running back Kirk Johnson can't wait to play Cal

Published May. 19, 2015 12:57 p.m. ET

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Somethings things work out in weird ways. For incoming Texas freshman running back Kirk Johnson, the fact that the Longhorns play Cal the next two seasons is especially serendipitous.

Johnson wanted to play for the Golden Bears. In fact, his younger brother Collin, a big-time prospect at receiver (and now a Texas commit) received an offer from Cal during a 2014 visit to the school with Kirk. Kirk left empty-handed.

"Don’t get me wrong, I think my brother’s going to be a first-round draft pick," Kirk Johnson recently told Horns Digest. "But they were pretty much telling me I wasn’t good enough. I was pissed. I couldn’t sleep that night. I snuck out of my house. It was raining. I didn’t care. I ran to this hill about 10 minutes from our house – and I ran that hill until I couldn’t run it anymore."

Not long after that, Kirk, Collin and their father, Johnnie Johnson, the former Texas All-American defensive back, headed to Austin to visit coach Charlie Strong during Texas' 2014 Junior Day. Strong offered both Johnson boys, and both accepted.

“Suddenly, the whole Cal staff was calling me begging to take another visit,” Kirk told Horns Digest. “But I was done with Cal. At that point, they were just wasting my time.”

Now Johnson will look to find a spot on the Texas depth chart behind senior starter Johnathan Gray. And look to show Cal a thing or two.

Read the entire story here.

Photo Credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

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