CHAPEL HILL – Injured North Carolina quarterback Max Johnson remains in a hospital in Minneapolis and could be there for a couple more weeks.
That’s what UNC Coach Mack Brown said Monday at the outset of his weekly press conference at the Kenan Football Center ahead of the Tar Heels’ home game against Charlotte on Saturday.
Johnson broke his right leg with 3:02 remaining in the third quarter last Thursday night in Carolina’s 19-17 win at Minnesota. He has been at the university’s hospital since. Johnson had surgery Friday and Brown said he was going to “have another procedure” Monday.
“He’s doing fine but he’s still there,” Brown said. “He may be back in a week, it may be two weeks. We left one of the assistant trainers up there with him.”
Johnson struggled in the first half, but hit his first five pass attempts in leading the Tar Heels to a 17-play scoring drive to open the third quarter. Yet, with 3:02 left in the third quarter and the Heels trailing 14-13, Johnson went down and stayed there for some time.
Teammates gathered in groups praying together, and at one point, 14 surrounded Johnson. Defensive standout Kaimon Rucker kneeled in front of Johnson touching him and praying. They knew it was serious and were right.
Johnson is out for the season, as Brown learned before getting on the flight back from Minneapolis.
“As soon as possible, we need to get him back, get him back involved in our program and get him to help coach our quarterbacks,” Brown said. “And even up there when he starts feeling better, we’re going to try to get him to zoom into team meetings and zoom into the quarterback meetings and the offensive meetings just to make sure that he feels all the love from us and the kids.”
Brown said after the game, the team wanted to give Johnson the ball and would do so Sunday before practice but couldn’t.
“We gave him the game ball and they all wanted him to zoom in yesterday, but he was having some check-up with a doctor at the time, so he couldn’t do it,” Brown said.
Brown praised the Minnesota medical staff and hospital, and also said Gophers Coach P.J. Fleck reached out as well.
“P.J. called me on Friday morning and asked, ‘can I get mom and dad’s number, I’d like to check and go over there and make sure (if there’s) anything we can do to help,’” Brown said. “So, he was totally class in trying to help.”
Because Johnson will get this season back with a medical redshirt due to the injury, he still has two years of eligibility remaining. Brown says the medical staff has indicated multiple times Johnson will have a full recovery, but the timetable is currently unknown.
The focus now is to get Johnson back to Chapel Hill so he can begin the process of healing physically and psychologically. Johnson played two seasons at LSU and two at Texas A&M before transferring last winter to UNC.
He beat out redshirt sophomore Conner Harrell for the starting quarterback job, and to train all offseason and have it taken away not three full quarters into the season is very difficult for any athlete and his family, which includes former 15-year NFL quarterback Brad Johnson. Current UNC tight end Jake Johnson is Max’s younger brother.
“I’ve been in touch with Brad a few times, and I talked to Jake yesterday,” Brown said. “And it’s just a, we all go through tough things, this is a very tough thing for Max and that family.”
The UNC assistant will stay with Johnson in Minneapolis until he is released.
