Montrell Johnson status: Florida shares depth chart for Miami game
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Montrell Johnson appears likely to play on Saturday in Florida’s showdown with No. 19 Miami.
The Gators released their depth chart for Week 1 on Wednesday. Johnson’s listing as RB1 was a welcome sight for many fans.
“We anticipate Montrell being available. If he’s on the depth chart at the top of this list, he’s ready to go,” Napier told reporters Wednesday evening, per Scott Carter of FloridaGators.com.
Johnson’s status was up in the air when it was reported on Aug. 3 that the returning running back underwent a knee procedure after suffering an injury during fall camp practices. He was described at the time as “week-to-week.” Three weeks later, Johnson appears to be good to go.
A Louisiana transfer who followed Billy Napier to Florida, Johnson is entering his third season at Florida. As a Gator, Johnson has logged 307 carries for 1,658 yards and 15 touchdowns.
In Napier’s first two seasons, Florida used Johnson and Trevor Etienne as a 1-2 punch out of the backfield. Johnson edged Etienne in carries and total yards in both seasons, but Etienne had more rushing touchdowns in 2023 (8-5) and a slightly higher yards per carry over the two seasons (5.9-5.4).
Etienne has since transferred to Georgia, publicly sharing that he didn’t want to be “RB2 on a losing team.” With Etienne in Athens, Johnson enters the 2024 season as Florida’s unquestioned RB1.
The Gators lack experience on the RB depth chart behind Johnson. Sophomore Treyaun Webb is listed as the backup. Webb made 11 appearances in his freshman season, rushing 26 times for 163 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Behind Webb is Jadan Baugh, a true freshman. Baugh, from Decatur, Georgia, was a 4-star prospect on the 247Sports Composite who flipped his commitment from Arkansas to Florida ahead of the Early Signing Period in December.
KD Daniels and Ja’Kobi Jackson are next in line behind Baugh. Daniels, a true freshman from Mississippi, was a 4-star prospect on the Composite. Jackson joined the Gators in the spring of 2023, but took a redshirt last season. He spent 3 seasons at Coahoma Community College before transferring to UF.
Florida is a 2.5-point home underdog against the Hurricanes on FanDuel Sportsbook. ESPN’s SP+ projected a 30-30 tie for the score (30.1-29.8 in Florida’s favor). ESPN’s Football Power Index, a simulation-based predictive metric, gives UF a 57.5% chance of winning.
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Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
