Quinten Johnson's injury led him back to Michigan football — and could get him to the NFL

In retrospect, he sees it as a blessing in disguise.

But at the time it happened, it seemed like the cruelest kind of curse.

Here was Quinten Johnson on the doorstep of his dreams in January, days away from the College Football Playoff championship game and a perfect coda to his Michigan football career.

It had been quite a journey just to get to this landmark moment in life. He had tolerated the Wolverines’ crash in 2020, when they slogged to a 2-4 record during the darkness of a global pandemic. He had endured the frustration of being buried on the depth chart as an underclassman. He had suffered through his own crisis of confidence, wondering if his body would continue to betray him and whether he would ever prove his worth at the college level.

But like the team he represented, he had persevered, fighting his way toward the top. Now, he was almost there. One last morning practice remained in Ann Arbor before the Wolverines jetted down to Houston for their shot at glory. The storybook sendoff to the NFL that Johnson envisioned was right there in front of him. But then, as the fifth-year safety left the ground with the ball in the air, he felt a twinge in his left leg as he fell awkwardly. He initially tried to ignore the pain and line up for the next play, hoping nothing was wrong.

“It wasn’t happening though,” Johnson recalled to the Free Press.

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He then went over to the training staff for a quick examination.

“It’s not looking good,” they informed him.

Johnson, as he would come to learn, had just torn his hamstring. It was the ultimate gut punch, delivered at the worst possible time. But Johnson refused to accept his fate. He told himself he would find a way to play against Washington and then start training for his segue to the pros. He even picked out a speed performance facility in Florida with that goal in mind. Johnson wasn’t about to let his plans be derailed, especially not now, after all that he overcame. So, he found his way on the field for one special teams snap in the 34-13 conquest of the Huskies, wearing a bulky brace on his leg. Then, 25 days after the Wolverines finished their undefeated run to the national title, he declared for the NFL draft and joined the program's mass exodus of talent. In his social media post announcing his decision, Johnson included two photos detailing his most memorable plays at Michigan.

The first was a snapshot of a thunderous hit he delivered to Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka, which dislodged the ball just after it arrived, sending the Michigan Stadium crowd into a frenzy during the third quarter of a 30-24 November victory. The second was an image captured near the riveting final act of Michigan's epic overtime triumph over Alabama in the Rose Bowl, when Johnson stripped quarterback Jalen Milroe near midfield during the fourth quarter and forced a fumble.

At the time, the pictures depicted what Michigan would lose with Johnson gone. Now, they serve as reminders of what Johnson may still offer the Wolverines this fall. That’s because Johnson is back, preparing for his sixth season in Ann Arbor.

The process and timeline of his return is hard to explain, and there was a period when he seemed like Schrodinger’s safety, caught in some gray zone between the college and pro levels before being listed on Michigan’s roster even though he wasn’t enrolled in school. In fact, Johnson, a graduate student, didn’t officially declare he was coming back to Michigan until March 12 — 39 days after the Feb. 2 deadline for upperclassmen to pull their names from the draft. How was Johnson allowed to do this? A football program spokesman said the NFL, on April 1, accepted a late opt-out for him, knowing the extent of Johnson's injury.

"At the end of the day," Johnson said, "it ended up working out well."

He no longer felt the urge to rush his recovery in order to try out for NFL teams.

Better yet, Johnson felt reignited being back at the place where he came of age as a player.

With a name, image and likeness deal from a local car dealership in hand, there was no real regret about opportunity lost. Instead, there was excitement about prolonging an enriching chapter in his life at a place he had come to appreciate.

“If I came back to college football, I wouldn’t have done it for any other team or any other program,” he said. “I’m a Michigan Wolverine.”

But some have probably forgotten that. Over the past five months, the 24-year-old Johnson has faded into the background, working behind the scenes while going through physical therapy and rehabilitation. Unable to participate in spring ball, Johnson worked to regain his form at Schembechler Hall and multiple high-performance gyms in Ann Arbor. After bypassing surgery and letting the muscle heal naturally, he is nearing full health, he said.

"I'm around 95%," he estimated.

When he does return to practice at the dawn of preseason camp this summer, he will see plenty of new faces within his position group. Keon Sabb is gone, joining Alabama over the winter. Rod Moore won’t be there either after suffering a significant knee injury in March. The Wolverines then moved swiftly to plug the holes by going on a transfer acquisition spree, adding Jaden Mangham from Michigan State and Wesley Walker from Tennessee to a revamped secondary that features a pair of cornerbacks imported from other programs. From the outside, it seemed Johnson became lost in the shuffle amid all the turnover.

“But I definitely haven’t forgotten about Q,” defensive backs coach LaMar Morgan told the Free Press. “I think nobody in the program would say that, and I think everybody in the program knows Q can definitely help us win a lot of games. He’s proven that. I think when you get guys who know the system, who have played a lot, those guys can do a lot for you.”

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Johnson, who packs a lot of punch in his 5-foot-11, 200-pound frame, demonstrated that last season. After gaining fluency in the Baltimore Ravens system that Michigan adopted in 2021, Johnson started to develop a knack for making plays. In practice last fall, Jim Harbaugh’s defensive staff noticed Johnson picking off passes day after day.

“And so we’re like, ‘He’s got to play more,’ " said Steve Clinkscale, then the Wolverines' defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator.

So, Clinkscale pulled him off the bench during an ugly first half against Bowling Green on Sept. 16 and told him to go make something happen. Johnson obliged immediately, snagging an interception. The crowd roared and his teammates mobbed him along the sideline.

It was the kind of joyous scene Johnson, a former four-star recruit from the Washington metro area, yearned to experience when he spent his first two years of eligibility toiling almost exclusively on special teams. Back then, Johnson battled with his self-esteem, wondering if he could hack it at the top level of college football after arriving at Michigan with a long list of injuries that included stress fractures and sports hernias. Because he wasn’t playing much, he struggled to feel any sense of accomplishment and his motivation gradually attenuated. School had started to become important to him than football. The belief that he’d get his chance to play waned, and for the briefest of moments, he even contemplated transferring.

"It was real hard," Johnson remembered.

Clinkscale advised him to remain patient and encouraged him to keep working. So, Johnson did, placing his faith in his position coach. The time on task eventually yielded major dividends for Johnson, who matured into a valuable contributor last year. By the end of the season, he was rated one of the most productive reserves on Michigan’s top-ranked defense, according to Pro Football Focus. Just two Wolverines — Johnson and Mike Sainrstil, a future second-round pick — recorded both an interception and forced fumble in 2023.

“He made some critical plays for us … in the past two seasons, and we wouldn’t have won a national championship without him,” Clinkscale said.

Now Johnson may be in line for a bigger role.

He sees himself as a potential linchpin in a reformatted defense coordinated by Wink Martindale. Morgan does, too, noting that Johnson’s versatility will be a major asset in this multidimensional scheme. There is talk of a three-safety alignment and a heavy dose of nickel packages, which could lead to significant playing time for Johnson — a player who can rotate down to the slot from his perch at the back end.

Johnson could become an important piece for the Wolverines and position himself to be drafted in the coming year. Right now, though, he is projected to miss the cut, according to one of the two major NFL scouting services. This coming season, the one Johnson says will undoubtedly be his last at Michigan, presents one more chance to show he deserves to hear his name called.

“Does he have the ability? Does he have the work ethic? Is he smart enough?” said Clinkscale, now the defensive backs coach for the Los Angeles Chargers. “I think he has all that. I think he has to put it together.”

If he does, and raises his stock beyond where it was at the end of last season, the cruel twist of fate Johnson experienced on the practice field in January may turn into a bizarre stroke of good fortune. Life, which is full of surprises, can be funny like that.

“That’s the best way to look at it,” he said. “I’ve gotten blessed just coming back to school.”

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Quinten Johnson's return to Michigan football is an improbable tale