With just one lap to go and several meters ahead of his closest competitor, it looked like Brandon Johnson would easily bring home first place for the UCLA mile-relay team at last year’s Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational. Rounding the first turn after receiving the baton from teammate Kevin Craddock, Johnson was well on his way to leading the Bruins to a top-five national time until the All-American hurdler pulled up in pain, clutching his leg.

He had severely torn his hamstring, which not only kept him from finishing the race, but more importantly, also ended what had the makings of a very promising season.

“When I went down, I was full of emotion,” Johnson said. “I was angry; I was disappointed – everything. I couldn’t believe it was happening.”

A year later, Johnson has fully recovered from that devastating injury. After a painstakingly long rehab, the senior will finally make his debut in the 400-meter hurdles this weekend at the same meet where he sustained his injury exactly one year ago Saturday.

Just a season ago, Johnson looked primed to capture the 400m-hurdle national title after having come in fourth place a year prior in only his second year in Westwood.

However, all of those hopes were dashed when he injured himself in front of a home crowd that fell deathly silent as he lay on the track in pain. It was clear he would not compete again that year.

“It was very frustrating for Brandon to have to watch everyone else competing,” sprints coach Tony Veney said. “For someone who is so competitive and has such a strong drive, it was killing him watching another guy win the national title in the 400 hurdles when he at least wanted to have a shot at it.”

Johnson spent the rest of the season rehabbing the hamstring and watching his teammates finish the season in just 22nd place at the NCAA Championships, with no mile-relay team to represent UCLA.

With the disappointment of a lost season behind him and a long rehab ahead, Johnson contemplated quitting the sport, but after a long deliberation and some convincing from his mother, Johnson decided to try one more season.

“It had me at odds with whether or not I even wanted to come back next year,” Johnson said. “But after I sat down with my mom, she convinced me that this was not the end and put everything in perspective for me.”

With that, the German-born, Texas-raised Johnson finally began working out in October and looked to be in good shape until the senior received more bad news in winter. While his hamstring was healthy and his training was also progressing, the senior sustained yet another disheartening setback when he found out he had fractured two lower vertebrae in December.

“It was horrible,” Johnson said. “At first I thought I could run through the pain, but it got to the point where I couldn’t even move, so I had to miss three more months.”

But despite yet another debilitating injury, Johnson’s determination and perseverance prevailed, and he was able to train through the injury in unconventional ways. Instead of hard pounding on a track, Johnson worked relentlessly in the pool and also on the stationary bike, waking up as early as 5 a.m. to work out when the gym opened.

“I told myself I would do everything in my power to come back,” Johnson said. “I thought that if I stop now, I would be unsatisfied, but if I kept going, no matter what happened, at least I wouldn’t be disappointed in myself because I was doing everything that I could.”

Indeed, Johnson made a quick recovery from this second injury by keeping his conditioning right on track. In his very first race after tearing his hamstring, Johnson put aside any doubts that he had not recovered by taking home the 800m title at the Cal/Nevada Championships in late March with an impressive time of 1:51.57, while also returning to anchor the mile relay with a 55.1 second split.

All of this was accomplished with just four weeks of track workouts under his belt.

The respect Johnson garners from the rest of the nation is clear as well. Without even clearing one hurdle this year, he is still the No. 1-ranked 400m collegiate hurdler and is the favorite to win the NCAA title in June. Still, Veney knows that his athlete has a lot to make up for and should be even more impressive as the season wears on.

“Brandon is not all of the way back yet, but he is pretty close,” Veney said. “What makes Brandon close is his competitiveness. Some guys are ready to run, but from the shoulders up, they are not. With Brandon, he has so much confidence and we know he is always ready for competition.”

Now that Johnson has come back from so many setbacks, he still is not taking anything for granted. The senior knows that rankings mean nothing and the only thing that matters is how he fares in Sacramento in June.

“Nothing is going to come easy,” Johnson said. “I feel like I have to prove myself all over again since I haven’t ran in a year. I know everyone will be gunning for me.”