Max Johnson’s debut season at North Carolina did not go according to plan. It was hardly a season at all for the Tar Heels’ Week 1 starting quarterback, who suited up in just one game before his campaign came crashing down. Johnson suffered a serious injury in the opener against Minnesota when he broke his leg on a sack late in the third quarter.
Trainers carted Johnson off the field in Minneapolis as he grabbed onto his knee, initially not sure what part of his leg he had injured. It was an unceremonious conclusion to a brief starting stint that he worked hard to earn, fighting off Conner Harrell and Jacolby Criswell in a position battle.
Five surgeries later, Johnson is back on the field and in another competition — this time with incoming transfer Gio Lopez — to regain his starting job.
“It’s been a crazy, crazy journey,” Johnson said Saturday in UNC’s fall camp media availability. “I remember lying on the field, ticked off that I couldn’t play for that season. I did all that work last year from January to the season. I just was frustrated that I couldn’t play. All the long hours of rehab, seven days a week, three hours in the training room of just grinding away. Not being seen and just watched everybody doing their things. I had to go in there, put my head down and just work.”
Johnson is fully cleared to participate in fall camp, and he said he feels completely healthy just under a year removed from the awful night in Minnesota. He worked out with his teammates throughout the summer conditioning program and will not have any limitations in the ramp-up to the season.
That is a big step forward even from this spring, when Johnson missed all of camp. It is an even bigger leap from October, when Johnson took his first steps following the injury. Frankly, it is one that Johnson was unsure he would make in the earliest days of his recovery.
“I knew it was pretty serious as soon as it happened,” said Johnson. “I couldn’t tell if it was my knee or my femur or my leg. I remember getting up. I put my shoulders around the trainers who were carrying me off the field, and as soon as I got picked up, my leg kind of slipped out. I kind of felt it dangling. Right then and there, I knew it was my femur.
“And then I remember being in the hospital,” he continued. “Went through a couple surgeries. It was tough, man, lying there on the bed, not knowing what was going to happen, how long I was going to be in the hospital. I really just didn’t know. There was a point in time where I thought I was going to lose my leg.”
Johnson completed 12 of his 19 passes for 71 yards and an interception in his lone partial game with the Tar Heels, and he added a rushing touchdown before he departed from the field. It was a mixed bag of a performance in a contest heavily impacted by weather. For his career, which spans five years and three teams, Johnson is a 60.5% passer with 5,923 yards and a healthy ratio of 47 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.
The career résumé is one of a capable starter with stints as QB1 forLSU and Texas A&M. But to get back into that role in 2025, he has to beat out a promising transfer from South Alabama in Lopez, who has an edge under new coach Bill Belichick just for being more available during spring.
“I’ve talked with Coach Belichick, Coach Kitchens that the best man is gonna play,” said Johnson. “Whoever that is, I know Coach Belichick is going to make the best decision. I’m just blessed to be here, be able to compete. It just feels good to be able to do it again.”
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