Hard- luck Johnson stays with Stampeders
If patience is indeed a virtue, Micah Johnson may be the most virtuous guy around.
“Honestly, my mental toughness has been tested to the extreme these past two years,” sighed the Calgary Stampeders defensive tackle, who re- signed with the club as a free agent, it was announced on Thursday.
“Anybody that knows anything about rehabbing an ACL, it’s not fun. It’s very painful and, in essence, to be rehabbing for two years straight, it’s just made me a lot tougher. It hasn’t been easy, especially taking that hit last year. That one hurt pretty bad.
“So just the kind of things I went through ( after the first injury), the most difficult thing was knowing I had to do it all over again.”
Johnson’s is a hard- luck tale that he wouldn’t wish on any of his football brethren. In 2013, as a terrific season came to an end, he injured his knee in the final, meaningless regular season game. Then in 2014, once again enjoying a spectacular campaign, he suffered yet another horrifying torn ACL in his left knee in Hamilton in mid- August and this one kept him out for the duration.
Johnson’s reluctance to re- commit immediately to the Stamps had more to do with his desire to test the waters down south — where he’d previously spent time with the New York Giants, Kansas City, Miami, Cincinnati and Green Bay — but his injury played havoc with that as well.
“I was just behind the curve with the injuries,” he said. “I feel like they would like to have workouts by now and obviously I wasn’t able to. It was just a matter of seeing what would be the best situation. It was me trying to take my time and be patient with my knee because I felt that’s what I didn’t do last time, that’s why I re- tore it. The time frame didn’t work out and I just had to pass on NFL workouts.”
Thus, a welcome return to the Stampeders.
“Micah has been a very impressive player when he has been on the field for us,” said Stamps’ head coach/ GM John Hufnagel. “He’s had some misfortune in regards to injuries over the past two seasons, but I know he’s been working hard to return to action and I look forward to seeing him play a full season.”
“It’s a blessing just to play the small amount of games that I have and for them to want to re- sign me,” Johnson said.
Speaking of the knee, he says it’s coming along just swimmingly.
“I went down to Pensacola, Fla., where I did my surgery, and I’ve been rehabbing down there,” the 26- year- old said. “The knee is good. It feels stable, it’s just a matter of getting stronger and continuing to put a lot of stabilization work in. This is when I start doing more movements and seeing how those feel.”
Without question, Johnson is itching to get back onto the playing field, given his inactivity over the past several months. Yet, on the other hand, that patience is still the prevailing sentiment.
“Last year, when we reported to camp, I was only six months out of surgery,” he said. “This time I’ll be eight months out and be rehabbing, so that in itself is more time. Last year, it’s funny, because it felt great, so it kind of threw everybody off because it felt great and I was playing good. So it was a shocker.”