Montrell Johnson Jr. caps Senior Day with memorable TD, signature win
Florida Gators running back Montrell Johnson Jr. went out with a bang on Senior Day at The Swamp. In Florida’s hard-fought 24-17 win over No. 9 Ole Miss on Saturday, he rushed for 107 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries against one of the top run defenses in the country.
“It feels good to go out there with the guys,” Johnson said. “It felt good to go out like that.”
It was a triumphant final home game at Florida for Johnson, who sustained a lower leg injury in a 23-17 overtime loss to No. 10 Tennessee on Oct. 12 and missed the next three games. During that time, freshman Jadan Baugh and junior Ja’Kobi Jackson performed well.
“It was kind of tough for me, because that was my first time missing any games in college – just kind of just focusing on grinding and trying to work my way back,” Johnson said. “And like you saw last week (against LSU), I got a couple carries, and this week I shot to the moon. So just continue to keep working.”
For Johnson, thoughts of shutting it down and focusing on the future admittedly crossed his mind.
“A couple times I thought that, probably like Week 2 it wasn’t getting any better,” he said. “I was kind of doubting myself. I just kind of stayed faithful and kept praying to God and kept working.”
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Montrell Johnson Jr. had a big day against a highly ranked defense
Ole Miss entered Saturday allowing only 79.9 rushing yards a game, good for second best in the county. But behind Johnson, the Gators established the ground game early. they ended up with 164 yards on 45 carries.
“It means a lot to me just knowing that I could come back from all types of adversity,” Johnson said.
For Johnson, the biggest moment came when he scored on a 9-yard run via direct snap with 7:40 left in the game to put Florida ahead by seven.
“That’s great play, because, actually, I’ll practice that play with (Baugh),” Johnson said. “So when they called it, it was like, Trell, ‘it’s your play’. So when I got there, I’m just thinking, ‘touchdown. I gotta score’ I got to get in the end zone for Senior Night – and that’s what I did.”
Although Johnson’s time is running out at Florida, he’s excited about the Gators’ future.
“This team has done a lot,” Johnson said. “I want to say, like the guys I’ve been seeing after that bye week we just took off. I don’t know what happened, but just like the competitiveness, it just rose to another level. I’m proud of those guys that we took that next step. We’re becoming a program that everyone knew we could be.”
