Oregon star taking low-key approach

While some players get engulfed with the recruiting process in the spring evaluation period and let it overwhelm them already. Portland (Ore.) Lincoln defensive end and Rivals100 member Ethan Johnson has taken a different approach.

He's remained rather relaxed over the past few weeks and hasn't put any pressure on himself and the colleges to push him toward making an early decision.

Even though he has offers from a who's who of college football, Johnson, who is 6-foot-4 and 266 pounds, is definitely taking his time and that has helped keep things relatively under control during the spring.

"It's been pretty quiet actually," he said. "We're still in school and we get done on June 10. I've just been chilling in my classes. I have a few classes with a lot of seniors in them, and they've already got senioritis. Most of the classes have been pretty relaxed because of it. The teachers are already reducing the workload getting ready for the end of the year."

And it looks like it'll be the end of the year or the end of the recruiting season before we Johnson ready to make a decision. He's getting plenty of attention from the college coaches, but he just isn't in a rush to commit any time soon.

He was in Los Angeles in early April visiting USC for one of the Trojans spring practices. He was also on the sidelines at the NIKE Training Camp, but didn't participate because of a slight injury that he's fully recovered from. He said he truly enjoyed his time in Los Angeles.

"It was cool," Johnson said. "I liked the campus. It's USC, what's not to like about it. It's a great school. I saw The Coliseum. I met the coaches and I saw one of their scrimmages. It was cool, too. I got to see the D-line work, and meet a lot of them and the D-line coach."

Johnson admits Los Angeles was a lot different than he expected.

"I thought it was going to be a huge change from Portland, but it wasn't that big of a change," he said. "It was cool. LA is huge, and there's always something you could be doing. The football players stay mainly around the campus, but there's always something happening around there and it's not too far to find something else to do."

On the way home at the airport Johnson met his first celebrity – rapper Common.

"You know you always hear about people seeing famous people in Los Angeles, and then I actually got to see one," he said. "That was really exciting."

Johnson said he's bumped into coaches from Colorado, Boise State, Cal, Arizona, Michigan and Nebraska at his school so far in the spring evaluation process. He's also added new offers from Arizona, Michigan and Nebraska.

"Michigan came by the school and then offered me," he said. "And then Nebraska did the same thing. Arizona was at the school (Monday) and they went ahead and offered me, too."

But don't even begin to ask Johnson about a favorite. With previous offers Arizona state, Auburn, Colorado, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Oregon, Oregon State, USC and several others, he said he's not even began to formulate a top 10 – let alone a top five.

"I'm thinking about going to the NIKE Camp up in Eugene," he said. "But I also really want to get out this summer and visit some schools. There's a lot of schools that I really want to go visit, so that's going to keep me busy this summer."