North Carolina QB Max Johnson says he feared he may lose leg after season-ending injury in 2024 opener
Johnson, the son of former NFL QB Brad Johnson, suffered a broken right leg in the Tar Heels' season opener against Minnesota in 2024. He said Saturday that he could feel his leg 'dangling' as he was helped off the field by trainers after the injury occurred, and there was a time after the injury that he wondered if he'd have to have his leg amputated.
'There was a point in time where I thought I was going to lose my leg,' Johnson said. 'Got blessed to be able to continue to play football and, man, what an honor it is just to be back playing.'
Johnson said that he underwent five surgeries following the injury. He got hurt in the third quarter of the Tar Heels' loss when his leg bent awkwardly. He said he knew when his leg felt like it was dangling that it was an injury to his femur.
'I was just so joyful to be out [at practice on Saturday],' Johnson said. 'I couldn't stop smiling. It wasn't like there was such a mental block [with rehab], just the daily grind of kind of being in the training room and continuing to work on scar tissue massages, the STEM machines, the running on the water treadmill, it was just the daily grind that kind of helped me get over the mental block as you would say.'
'I didn't really have just like 'Oh I'm never going to be able to do this again' even though it took me a while to start walking. I remember taking my first steps and just being so happy in that moment. And man, I was just so happy to be out there today with my teammates again. I kind of felt like myself again.'
Johnson is competing with South Alabama transfer Gio Lopez to be UNC's starting quarterback in Bill Belichick's first season. The former Texas A&M and LSU QB transferred to North Carolina after two seasons with the Tigers and two seasons with the Aggies. Over four seasons at the two SEC schools, he was 474-of-784 passing for 5,852 yards and 47 TDs with 12 interceptions.
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