“We don’t anticipate it being a long term issue,” Florida football head coach Billy Napier said during Monday’s press conference when discussing the severity of running back Montrell Johnson Jr.‘s injury.
Johnson suffered an injury during last week’s game against the Tennessee Volunteers, but it has not been revealed what the injury exactly was. Napier didn’t give a specific timetable for when Johnson will be able to return.
Johnson, a senior from the state of Louisiana, is in his third season with the Gators and has the most rushing yards (373) out of the rest of the team’s running backs.
Johnson put together a solid performance against the Volunteers before leaving the game. He had 12 carries for 85 yards with his longest rush of the night being a total of 23 yards.
If Johnson won’t be ready for Florida’s game this week against Kentucky, it will be expected that running backs Jadan Baugh and Ja’Kobi Jackson will handle the majority of the load in the backfield.
Baugh is a freshman who has 31 carries for 153 yards on the ground this season. Jackson is a redshirt junior who has 19 carries for 109 yards and three touchdowns. Both backs are tough, physical runners. But Jackson is a guy who can push through the middle of the field in those short down situations.
Coming up for the Gators
The Gators host the Kentucky Wildcats inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 19. Kickoff is set for 7:45 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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