The Michigan Wolverines will be minus one tailback come the fall. Redshirt senior Drake Johnson has announced that he will not play football this season and instead will pursue running track in the spring at the school.
Harbaugh says Drake Johnson will just run track this year. No football.
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) July 17, 2017
Johnson had been with the football program since the 2012 season. He’s endured multiple knee injuries that have hindered his chances to see the field more regularly. Johnson was also the victim of a freak forklift accident in the spring of 2016 when he was working out on campus.
Photo via Brad Muckenthaler on FlickrThe NCAA gave Johnson a sixth year of eligibility to play sports via a hardship waiver, but instead will use that to run track as oppose to play for head coach Jim Harbaugh.
In total, the Ann Arbor Pioneer High School product logged 641 yards on the ground over 25 career games played, good four eight touchdowns and 5.5 yards per tote. Johnson also added just over 100 yards and two scores the receiving department. He redshirted his first year in 2012, suffered his first knee injury in 2013 that limited him to one game and then again did not play at all last season.
Michigan is pretty set in the backfield for the upcoming season. De’Veon Smith has graduated and moved onto the NFL but the team still has a three-headed monster — led by Chris Evans and complemented by Karan Higdon and Ty Isaac — that registered over 1,450 yards and 15 touchdowns combined. Harbaugh will also redshirt freshman Kareem Walker at his disposal as well.
We are now just 38 days away from the first college football game of the 2017 season. Michigan will first take the field on Saturday, September 2 in Arlington, Texas against Florida.
