It’s been a frustrating year for senior running back Montrell Johnson, who suffered injuries throughout the season that kept him sidelined for three games and limited in others. After missing over a month of action, Johnson returned last week vs LSU but logged just two carries for 14 yards. One week later, on senior day, Montrell Johnson’s workload significantly increased, exploding for a season high 107 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, averaging 5.9 yards in Florida’s upset victory over No.9 Ole Miss.
“It was kind of tough for me, because that was my first time missing any games in college – just kind of just focusing on grinding and trying to work my way back. And like you saw last week, I got a couple carries, and this week I shot to the moon. So just continue to keep working,” Johnson said on missing time.
The highlight of Johnson’s night was his eight-yard touchdown run out of the wildcat formation, which put Florida out in front with 7:40 left to play in the 4th quarter.
“I was just proud of myself at that moment, just bouncing back from adversity like I said before, just kind of fight through a lot of things mentally that I had going on as well,” Johnson said postgame.
Johnson’s mental and physical struggles nearly led him to hang up the cleats and began preparation for the NFL combine.
“A couple times I thought that, probably like Week 2 , it wasn’t getting any better,” Johnson said. “I was kind of doubting myself. I just kind of stayed faithful and kept praying to God and kept working.”
One of the hurdles Johnson had to jump through was the outside noise. Everyone’s favorite player is the shiny new toy, and that just so happened to be freshman running back Jadan Baugh, who’s done an incredible job in Johnson’s absence this season. With production comes the hot takes from the fan base, many of which suggested Johnson should be replaced for Baugh permanently. Johnson leaned on his teammates to regain his confidence.
“Guys always say what they can’t see on the inside,” Johnson said. “And, just me being a leader I just kind of leaned on those guys and made sure that they leaned on me. Just kind of make sure that they’re hitting the right hose, anything they need on the field I’m there for – just don’t focus on the outside stuff.”
Throughout all the adversity, Johnson came up in a big way on senior night, helping Florida knock off No.9 Ole Miss in what is the best win under Billy Napier to date.
“It means a lot. We want to go out there and win every one, but this one meant a lot to us because everyone was counting us out, so we wanted to just go out there and silence the doubters and prove everyone wrong and prove ourselves right,” Johnson said. “It feels good to go out there with guys. It felt good to go out like that.”
Johnson has carried the ball 72 times for 387 yards and four touchdowns this season, an average of 5.4 yards per carry. His 107-yard game vs Ole Miss marked his second 100+ yard game of the season.