Report: Keyontae Johnson diagnosed with heart condition, likely won’t return this season
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
The sports world has been keeping an eye on the story of Florida star Keyontae Johnson since he collapsed during a game against Florida State on Dec. 12. Fortunately, he is continuing to make a recovery and is on track to be discharged from the hospital.
It appears we now know the cause of his health emergency.
According to Zach Abolverdi of The Gainesville Sun, Johnson suffered acute myocarditis, a heart inflammation often said to be associated with the coronavirus. Johnson did contract COVID-19 months earlier before making a recovery. The article states that The Sun reached out to Johnson’s father and Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, but did not hear back.
The Gainesville Sun also reports that he “will likely miss the rest of the 2020-21 season.”
The good news is that Johnson, who was selected as the SEC preseason player of the year before the 2020-21 campaign, continues to recover and will be able to spend the holidays with his family. As for a return to the court, that is still a number of months off, but the No. 1 priority for him right now is obviously to get back to full health and return to as much of a normal life as possible.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
