He has been given the ground rules, and now there are split-second, season-changing decisions to be made.

Lay it on the line — or lay off it.

“I gotta learn to take care of myself more,” Max Johnson says.

Because by doing so, he’s taking care of what could be a unique season at Texas A&M.

They’re down to 1 quarterback now, starter Conner Weigman breaking a bone in his foot and no longer a factor in the 2023 season. It’s Johnson — a former starter in 2022 — and a long, long way to anyone else on the depth chart who could win an SEC game.

So if you see Johnson ditch a play, or give up on one early, or just avoid contact altogether in Saturday’s critical SEC West Division game against Alabama, there’s a reason.

There’s no one behind Johnson, who in 3 previous seasons in the SEC — 2 at LSU, 1 at Texas A&M — has built a reputation as a gritty, gutty player who will sacrifice his body for the good of the play.

Not anymore.

Because while his game relies on toughness, on the ability to break containment and pick up scramble yards and make accurate off-schedule and off-platform throws, those valuable traits also leave him vulnerable to big hits.

Game-ending hits.

That’s where the remainder of the season comes into focus. Not just this week against the Tide, but over the next 2 months where a talented Aggies team could find a way to its first SEC Championship Game.

But understand this: They’re not getting there without Johnson. While Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher spoke about the potential behind Johnson on the depth chart, if Johnson gets injured, the Texas A&M season is in serious jeopardy.

There’s Fresno State transfer Jaylen Henderson and freshman Marcel Reed. And that’s about it.

Henderson played 2 seasons at Fresno State and has 8 career attempts. Reed was a 4-star recruit but hasn’t played a snap.

That’s why the intersection of health and philosophy quickly became a hot topic after last week’s victory over Arkansas. After a 2nd half in which turnovers, largely avoided by the Aggies until last week, became a problem.

Johnson went more than 100 pass attempts (dating to last season) without throwing an interception, then threw a pick-6 on the first play of the 3rd quarter. He then fumbled twice in the second half after big hits, which led to the obvious philosophical dilemma: Do you take away what Johnson does best (create outside the pocket), and force him to limit his runs, or allow him to just go play?

It is football, after all. Injuries are part of the game.

“He’s got to be smart,” Fisher said. “We talk about it, when to be smart and (when) there’s certain times you can’t, you’ve got to be physical.”

So Johnson and Fisher came up with a compromise, a set of ground rules of sorts. When running for a touchdown or a 4th-down conversion, you’ve got to be physical.

Everywhere else, get down on the ground and stay healthy.

“I’d rather get out of bounds and not take the extra hit,” Johnson said. “But if it’s on the line, I’m going for it.”

But understand this: It’s not easy to eliminate a critical part of your game, the DNA of who and what you are as a player. Prior to Weigman’s injury, offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino (and Fisher) called the game differently for Johnson, getting him on the perimeter with bootlegs and designed rolls because he throws accurately on the run and because it forces defenses to choose how to defend him.

The goal was to put the defense in conflict. Now the goal is to protect Johnson at all cost.

He’s not a pocket passer like Weigman, and those specific play calls can either protect him from a pocket hit he can see coming — or make him susceptible on the perimeter to a fast-closing defender.

The Aggies have to block better up front on the offense line, and Johnson has to recognize pre-snap what Alabama is doing — and adjust the protections. It’s not as simple as a specific play call, or telling Johnson to throw it away when nothing is there. Or get down on the ground and live to fight another play.

There will be many times where — with the Alabama defense, specifically — protection won’t matter. Linemen won’t win 1-on-1, or the defense will bring more than the Aggies can block.

Those are the uncontrollable and inevitable. If something happens there, chalk that up to a football play.

Fisher just wants Johnson to be smart when he has control of the situation, when he alone can control if he absorbs a big hit — or if he moves on to the next play.

Or if he becomes the next in growing line of injured Aggies quarterbacks — one he has been part of in the past 3 years.

In 2021, Haynes King was the Texas A&M starter and fractured his leg in the 2nd game of the season. In 2022, Johnson replaced a struggling King in Week 3 and, 3 weeks later, broke the thumb on his throwing hand and missed the rest of the season.

King then separated his shoulder in late October last season, and Weigman started 4 games to finish the season. Now the Aggies are dealing with another injury to a starting quarterback.

They can’t afford another.

“I’ve always prepared the same way,” Johnson said.

But now he has ground rules. Follow them, and there’s potential for a rare season in College Station.

Follow them, and Johnson — who has a 48/8 career TD/INT ratio — has a chance to lead the Aggies to their 2nd win in 3 years over Alabama. And a 2-game lead over Alabama in the West Division race.

Break the ground rules, and the season is thrown into turmoil.