Braydon Johnson during a recent Football Canada national junior team tryout in Moose Jaw.

Braydon Johnson couldn't think of anyway better for his high school career to finish.

The local offensive lineman was named a first-team All-Canadian this week after wrapping up his grade 12 season with the Central Cyclones.  He was lone Saskatchewan-based player to crack the first-team.

“I was waiting for weeks and weeks to figure out if I made it and they released it from the third to second to first-team All-Canadians, and basically when they released the second-team I knew it was either good news or bad news,” said Johnson.

“It's like putting a cap on the bottle, everything just finished off perfectly.  I signed with a university football team and then I got this award, it's just such a sense of self accomplishment it just felt so good.”

Johnson was the fifteenth ranked prospect overall in Canada and the fifth offensive lineman after making life miserable for defensive linemen in the Moose Jaw High School Football League all season, again.

“It is a cherry on top and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't seek it out as best I could,” explained Johnson.  “I went out of my way to make a new highlight video just so I could maximize the opportunity of getting the award.”

Getting the award would also maximize the exposure for Johnson, but he doesn't even need after committing to play CIS Football next year with the University of Regina Rams.  Johnson has presented Team Saskatchewan for the past two years at the Football Canada Cup, being one of the few grade 11s to crack the roster in his first year.

His time at Central however is what Johnson points to for helping his growth as a football player to get to this point.

“I'm going to miss high school football so much, Central Collegiate and Colin Belsher (Cyclones head coach) have been really good to me, but I'm ready to move on and play college football with some real talent and work hard,” said Johnson.

Being named an All-Canadian can serve as a bit of a culmination for Johnson after putting two years of hard work to improve his game and get to the level where he's considered one of the best high school football players in the country.

“I've really focused on losing weight and after I lost a bunch of weight, I started to get faster and I noticed that I came out of my stance quicker and everything was just overall better because I was quicker,” said Johnson.

However he still feels that he has work to do to compete at the university-level going forward.

“Even though I've done well in high school, there's always stuff to be working on, even if you're a pro,” said Johnson.  “I'm open to every single opportunity I can get to be training and getting better.”

Johnson will get his first taste of university football this weekend when the Rams meet up at YaraCentre here in Moose Jaw for a practice.  He can't take part, but will be able to be around the team.  After that it's a wait until the Senior Bowl tryouts and then spring camp with the Rams.

“I'm just going to be in the gym and waiting until the spring camp starts,” stated Johnson.