North Carolina QB Max Johnson plans to return to Tar Heels in 2025 following season-ending injury
“These final eight days have been a severe grind and it has taken quite a bit to get to different facet and begin the restoration course of,” he mentioned in an announcement to ESPN. “I’ve a whole lot of soccer left in me and know I will likely be again on the market subsequent yr.”
It was a gut-wrenching second for the fifth-year faculty quarterback who beforehand performed at LSU and Texas A&M. With the Tar Heels within the thick of an eventual 19-17 win over the Golden Gophers, Johnson’s proper leg was trapped beneath a defender and bent at a clumsy angle as he tried to keep away from a sack by throwing the ball away.
He was carted off the sector and changed by sophomore Conner Harrell, who’s slated to start out for the Tar Heels towards North Carolina Central on Saturday.
As a veteran of two SEC packages with 22 profession begins, Johnson was anticipated to be a steadying, veteran possibility at quarterback for the Tar Heels in 2024 after the lack of No. 3 general draft decide Drake Maye. Whereas he will not be capable to fill that position on the sector for UNC in 2024, Johnson’s message suggests he is intent on pushing for the job once more in 2025.
Assuming he is granted a medical redshirt for the 2024 season, Johnson would nonetheless have two years of eligibility remaining and will doubtlessly play faculty soccer in 2026 as a seventh-year senior. Although he appeared in six video games as a real freshman at LSU in 2020, the season didn’t depend towards his eligibility as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, he appeared in simply 4 video games for Texas A&M resulting from a hand harm that he suffered after taking up the job from injured starter Conner Weigman. Of his 5 seasons within the sport thus far, solely the 2021 marketing campaign at LSU and 2023 season at Texas A&M are anticipated to depend towards his eligibility when he returns in 2025.