FAU’S Johnson: ‘I knew I’d get back eventually’
Blood clots waylaid QB, but his journey again has him taking snaps.
BOCA RATON — Nothing on his wild, three-school college football journey had stopped De’Andre Johnson. So as he sat in a hospital bed hours after blood clots were removed from his arm last September, the initial fear of his playing days being over began to set in.
“The doctors said he didn’t know if I’d play, but I was always determined to get back out here,” Johnson said Tuesday, minutes after practicing for the first time in six months. “I knew I’d get back eventually.”
Johnson did make it back to practice, receiving the bulk of the quarterback reps Tuesday morning as the Florida Atlantic Owls began their second spring camp under coach Lane Kiffin. Nearly three years after being dismissed from Florida State following a bat-
tery incident and two years since he starred at East Mississippi Community College — and later on the Netflix series “Last Chance U” — Johnson is ready to claim the starting quarterback role at FAU.
But for now, resembling his old self may be a few practices away. Johnson was far from perfect Tuesday, with several throws fluttering or lacking the speed the former Mr. Florida showed as recently as last spring.
“When you’ve been away for a long time and you haven’t really been able to play to your potential, you definitely want to go out there and show God what you can do,” Johnson said. “It’s just the first day and we got 14 days more, then fall camp.”
Johnson received roughly 75 percent of reps Tuesday, which may be the standard going forward, with Oklahoma transfer Chris Robison, a redshirt freshman, suspended for academic issues. Kiffin has not given a date for when he expects Robison to return, only saying the suspension can be lifted at any time.
Walk-ons Conor Miller and Trent Wessel are the backups for Johnson, who failed to win the starting job out of fall camp last year as he was expected to, then had his season cut short by the blood clots. Kiffin said Johnson didn’t look much different than he did last spring and showed a sharp arm. Johnson said more repetitions as he works his way back will be helpful.
“As we keep practicing … everything will come around,” he said. “Just like riding a bike, once you get the feel for it, it will come back to you.”
Robison out: Multiple sources told The Post Robison’s suspension is related to academics, as he did not attend a recent tutoring session. It is not known how many sessions Robison has missed. Robison, 19, was dismissed from Oklahoma last summer for violating team rules and a public intoxication arrest in April 2017.
Kiffin, who compared Robison to former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel after his first practice last August, acknowledged his disappointment. “(He’s) not doing things right off the field and (it’s) not just that he hurt himself, but he hurt his team,” Kiffin said.