The UW’s leading rusher couldn’t finish the 37-31 win over Texas in the Sugar Bowl.
With 50 seconds left in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Dillon Johnson didn’t get up. The University of Washington running back was on the ground writhing in pain, unable to climb to his feet on his own.
Teammates immediately took their helmets off and dropped to one knee around him in a show of concern as trainers and coaches attended to Johnson.
The Mississippi State transfer was down for several minutes, leading Texas fans to derisively call out that he was faking and needed to get up.
Eventually, two UW trainers helped Johnson to his feet and took him off the field with the standout player unable to put any weight on his right foot and the Huskies were left to finish up a 37-31 win over the Longhorns in the College Football Playoff semifinals without him.
It didn’t look good and the immediate questions surrounding this dire situation are this: will this 1,162-yard and 16-touchdown rusher be able to play in the national championship game against Michigan on Monday night and, if not, who will replace him?
UW coach Kalen DeBoer, trying to sound hopeful, said, “Obviously, he was down and in some pain, but he’s been in pain the last couple of months. He’s so strong and keeps pushing forward.”
Dillon Johnson was brought down by Texas on this play.
With the team rarely providing injury details, Johnson clearly has a foot problem, leading people to speculate he has some sort of severe sprain or maybe even a fracture.
While bothered by nagging injuries throughout 2022 in the SEC and into spring football, Johnson suffered his latest injury in the next-to-last regular-season game against Oregon State, limping badly as he came off the field and entering a medical tent.
“It goes tack to 2-3 weeks left to go in the season when this injury happened,” DeBoer said.
Johnson eventually was taken from the field on a cart, pumping his fist to the crowd and forcing his team to finish the closing seconds without him.
“Obviously seeing him go down was hard for us,” quarterback Michael Penix Jr. said.
Should Johnson get ruled out of the Michigan game, the Huskies are left with a fairly thin running-back corps.
Sophomore Sam Adams II was in street clothes and unavailable for the game in Louisiana, dealing with his own health issues.
Senior Richard Newton has rushed the ball just five times this season, relegated to mostly special teams because of a bothersome knee.
That leaves only freshman Tybo Rogers, who ran five times 19 yards against Texas; sophomore Will Nixon, who played briefly against the Longhorns; and Arizona State transfer Daniyel Ngata, largely a kick returner, as Johnson’s possible replacements.
