Florida recently lost Dameon Pierce and Malik Davis to the NFL, but the Gators’ running back room picked up another critical piece in Montrell Johnson.
Johnson announced his new home in a commitment video on twitter earlier today.
Johnson, originally a 5’10, 184 three-star running back prospect out of New Orleans, played one year for Billy Napier at Louisiana in 2021. Napier then left following the Ragin’ Cajuns’ Sun Belt Championship for Florida, and Johnson entered his name into the portal, with many assuming that he would follow Napier to Florida. It took a month, but that finally did come to fruition.
That one year at Louisiana, mind you, was special. He carried the ball 162 times for 838 yards and twelve touchdowns. He also caught six passes for 53 yards. Those numbers earned him Sun Belt Freshman of the Year honors.
Despite the losses of Pierce and Davis, Florida’s running back room remains loaded. Montrell Johnson will join former five star transfers Demarkcus Bowman (from Clemson) and Lorenzo Lingard (from Miami), along with Nay’Quan Wright (at least, as of now. Wright, for his part, sent out a tweet with several “peace” emojis; who knows what that means, but as of now he remains part of the football team.) Those three returning running backs have to be considered the favorites to get the bulk of the carries even with the familiarity Napier has with Johnson, but there’s little doubt that he will have a role on the 2022 team.
Aside from Louisiana, Montrell Johnson also earned offers from Tennessee, Virginia, Colorado, Kansas, Duke, and Vanderbilt coming out of high school. He was ranked the #60 running back in the 2021 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.