Last year, he was taking a break from college. He was back in Redmond, working construction — getting his head right, as he puts it.

Now, Taylor Johnson is a sophomore at Ashland’s Southern Oregon University, where he is the No. 4 197-pounder in the nation wrestling for the No. 2 team in NAIA. He has a national championship in his sights this season, and possibly two more after that.

“I knew he was pretty good. I didn’t know how good,” SOU coach Mike Ritchey says of Johnson, a 2009 Redmond High graduate. “I think he’s gotten better since he’s gotten here. It’s been a good transition. The weight class he’s at has been a bit of a need for us, so it was a real blessing to have him come in and fit that role real well for us.”

Last summer, a year after Johnson moved back home from Oregon State University, Ritchey tracked down the former Panther, offered him a spot on the SOU roster and ended up with one of the top NAIA wrestlers in the nation, one who has put together a 17-2 record as of Jan. 14 with 14 pins, including an 11-second fall against Luke Jones of Michigan State last month at the Reno Tournament of Champions.

“I was expecting to do well,” says Johnson, adding that his performance in Reno gave him an extra shot of confidence. “So far,” he continues, “other than my one loss against (Oregon State’s Taylor) Meeks, this season’s been great.”

Nathan Stanley, who was Johnson’s coach at Redmond High, calls his former 189-pound state champion naturally gifted, physical and athletic. Johnson is perseverant, Stanley says.

“If you were to hit him over the head with a two-by-four, he’d keep coming after you,” Stanley says. “He’d keep coming after you until he couldn’t come after you anymore.”

At OSU, where he had earned a partial scholarship out of high school, Johnson says there was “a lot of trouble to be had” with parties and drinking. He says he was susceptible to that, but now, in Ashland, Johnson believes he is mentally stronger.

“Life’s short,” he says, “and I don’t want to waste years of my life just being stupid.”

Johnson has found a family in Ashland, he says, and Ritchey agrees.

“I think he’s found a home here,” Ritchey says. “I think it’s a good fit for him, and he’s meshed well with the team. I look for good things out of him.”

Stanley does as well, calling the NAIA “deceptively good” and saying that those familiar with Johnson knew he was capable of reaching this level of success. What Stanley commends most, however, is Johnson’s ability not to settle for a successful high school career.

“It’s really easy for kids that are naturally gifted like Taylor to end up at a school like Oregon State, and all of a sudden, for the first time in their lives, they’re really, really pushed,” Stanley says. “I think a lot of kids like him that had that kind of athletic success will just say, ‘Well, I was a stud,’ and just live off of that for a while. That says a lot about Taylor’s character, that he wants to get his education and that he wasn’t satisfied with just being a good high school wrestler.”

Ritchey says his expectations are high for Johnson, who shares those expectations.

“There’s nothing left but me getting the national title this year,” Johnson says. “I’ve been training, and I honestly don’t think there’s anyone that can beat me right now. That’s the confidence you kind of have to have going into it. (A) national title this year, and I plan on getting two more after this.”