Johnson isn’t seeking medical redshirt yet
Out most of 2017, QB will be listed as junior for spring.
BOCA RATON — Despite missing nearly all of the 2017 season as a redshirt sophomore, Florida Atlantic quarterback De’Andre Johnson will play the 2018 season as a redshirt junior, an FAU spokesperson told The Post on Tuesday.
The prized signing of Lane Kiffin’s first recruiting class last year, Johnson — well known for playing at East Mississippi Community College and starring on Netflix’s “Last Chance U” — played just one game in 2017 before undergoing emergency surgery in September for blood clots in his arm. He missed the rest of the season. In his one appearance, a Sept. 1 loss against Navy, Johnson completed 2 of 3 passes and was intercepted once.
The FAU spokesperson said Johnson could still apply for a medical redshirt later but will not do so now. Applying for a hardship waiver has been ruled out at this time.
Johnson, a former Florida State enrollee who was dismissed from the program following a 2015 assault charge, was Kiffin’s first signing at FAU in December 2016.
Johnson has been officially cleared for spring camp and likely will compete with former Oklahoma quarterback Chris Robison for the starting job. FAU currently has a commitment from threestar quarterback Cordel Littlejohn (Roswell, Ga.) and will bring Gulf Coast quarterback Kaden Frost to fall camp as a preferred walk-on. Neither of last year’s starting quarterbacks, Daniel Parr (Dwyer) and Jason Driskel, will be with the team in 2018 having, respectively, transferred and retired after the Owls’ Dec. 19 Boca Raton