Doctors told Max Johnson he could’ve lost his leg. Now he’s in UNC’s QB battle

Max Johnson can trace the hardest moments of his injury journey through the times he was stuck lying on his back, unable to move.

Staring up at the Minneapolis sky as he clutched his broken leg. Listening to the doctors around his hospital bed as the complications piled on and the future of his football career hung in the balance. Hurting. Helpless. Disappointed.

As he stood at the podium in the Kenan Football Center for the first time since that gruesome leg injury cut his first season at North Carolina short, he said he always believed he would get back on the field. His positivity remained a constant even in those toughest moments.

Still, he couldn’t deny it — there were moments where it wasn’t always so certain.

“There was a point in time where I thought I was going to lose my leg, and I got blessed to be able to continue to play. And man,” his voice caught with emotion. His tone softened, “what an honor it is just to be back playing.”

Weeks in the hospital

Last year, Johnson had just edged quarterbacks Conner Harrell and Jacolby Criswell for the starting position in the season-opener against Minnesota. He suited up in Carolina blue last August expecting to show off the work he’d put in to earn it.

That first start in Minneapolis didn’t begin in spectacular fashion: Johnson completed four of 10 passes for 28 yards in the first half. He was sacked twice and almost fumbled.

But in the second half, he had begun to find his rhythm. He recorded more yards in the first drive than the entire opening half.

Then, with three minutes to go in the third quarter, a Minnesota player blitzed him, tackling him from his right side and landing on Johnson’s leg — which was stuck at an unnatural angle.

“I kind of knew it was pretty serious as soon as it happened,” Johnson said on Saturday. “I could’t tell if it was my knee or my femur or my leg. I remember getting up and putting my shoulders around the trainers who were carrying me off the field, and as soon as I got picked up, my leg slipped out. I felt it dangling.”

“Right then and there, I knew it was my femur.”

He was carted off the field and transported to a Minneapolis hospital, where he spent the next two weeks. Harrell stepped in to finish the game, allowing UNC to take a 19-17 victory. Criswell later beat out Harrell for the starting job.

The day after Johnson’s injury, UNC announced he underwent surgery and would miss the remainder of the season. Johnson finished the first game — and his year — with 71 passing yards.

The two weeks in the hospital were filled with unknowns about his road back to the field. It was there he heard the worst news of all: pressure in his leg might require potential amputation. For the first time in his health journey, he worried.

Doctors resolved the issue without amputating, but Johnson’s frustration grew knowing he would have to sit out the season.

He didn’t take his first steps until October. Before then, his parents assisted changing his clothes along with other everyday activities as he laid in bed.

“My parents, they were my best friends for the first couple months because I couldn’t do anything,” Johnson said. Later adding, “It was weird. I’m a fifth-year in college getting changed by my parents.”

After that, it was three hours a day, seven days a week in the training room for scar tissue massages and runs on the water and anti-gravity treadmills. Out of sight and forced to watch the season go on without him.

By the spring, he still wasn’t ready to join practice. His surgery count later totaled five — not just on the bone, but managing the complications that came with his recovery process. But a few weeks after spring practice wrapped up, he started to run again. In June, he joined the team in summer workouts.

“I always believed that I was going to be back on the field, doing what I’m supposed to be doing,” Johnson said. “I set my mind on I’m going to be ready for this (upcoming) season.”

Johnson’s journey continues

Wearing the red QB practice jersey, his helmet and a compression sleeve on his right leg, Johnson stood tall over the rest of his fellow quarterbacks at the first day of fall practice on Saturday. He high-fived passing teammates. He ran through drills. He couldn’t stop smiling.

“I think that speaks a lot to his character, just seeing how egregious that injury was,” senior defensive back Marcus Allen said. “Just for him to be able to stay in tune with the team, stay connected with the guys and put in the work everyday to be able to comeback, it’s great seeing him back out there.”

Johnson said he is “fully recovered now, 100 percent healthy,” but UNC head coach Bill Belichick said Johnson wasn’t able to take snaps in the spring, besides working out on his own, so there’s a 20 percent jump the quarterback has to make in order to be ready to play and be ready to start the full-fledged training camp. This week is just the adjustment period — for all players.

“Max has done a great job and worked really hard,” Belichick said. “He’s made a tremendous amount of progress through the process.”

Although healthy now, Johnson will have to battle for the starting position. In the spring, Belichick brought in South Alabama transfer Gio Lopez, who threw for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2024.

But Johnson said his focus is on his consistency. He doesn’t want to get too high off the good days or too low during the bad ones. He’ll treat the quarterback battle like he has his health journey: with self-belief as he works to earn his place.

And when he looks up at the sky, it’s not because he’s stuck on his back and unable to walk. He’s looking around, taking it all in and enjoying it.

“Man, I was just so happy to be out there today with teammates again,” Johnson said. “I felt like myself again.”

This story was originally published August 4, 2025 at 2:08 PM.