Former Texas A&M QB discusses nearly traumatic leg injury, and his road back to the field
Johnson, who is the son of Super Bowl-winning quarterback Brad Johnson, has never shied away from competition, choosing Texas A&M over a host of programs that would have started him right away, instead of playing behind former A&M QBs Haynes King and Conner Weigman to start his Aggie career. However, both players dealt with injury issues, vaulting Johnson into the starting lineup.
In two seasons at Texas A&M, Johnson appeared in 12 games, while his best string of performances came during the 2023 season, throwing for 1,452 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions, while, as I stated above, played with broken ribs during the close road close to Ole Miss, which is likely resulted in former head coach Jimbo Fisher's dismissal.
With Conner Weigman returning, paired with current starting quarterback Marcel Reed behind him, Johnson once again entered the transfer portal, choosing North Carolina as his final collegiate destination. However, during the Tar Heels' opening game of the 2024 season against Minnesota, Johnson's brutal leg injury ended his year before it truly began.
After a video showed the senior signal caller looking healthy during one of his many throwing sessions this offseason, Johnson recently spoke to the media during the first week of North Carolina's preseason, revealing that his road back to health was more complicated than all of us had assumed. According to journalist Chris Mason, Johnson had five surgeries after his leg injury, which occurred back on August 29, 2024.
'There was a point in time where I thought I was going to lose my leg.'
Max Johnson's toughness has never been in doubt, and this further proves that first-year North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick is in good hands at the position, especially from a leadership perspective. North Carolina will open the 2025 season at home against TCU on Monday, September 1.
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