Drake Johnson won’t return in 2017

Drake Johnson (image via New York Daily News)

Fifth year senior running back Drake Johnson – who would be a sixth year senior in the fall – has chosen not to return to the football team, according to Jim Harbaugh. Johnson suffered from a variety of injuries during his Michigan career, including two torn ACLs and a forklift imprint.

I will post a senior profile on him (such as the one on De’Veon Smith that’s scheduled for tomorrow morning), so I won’t spend too much time here looking back at Johnson’s career. However, if he had returned, he would have been expected to be a contributor in the backfield, though not likely a starter.

This doesn’t affect Michigan’s 2018 class since Johnson was scheduled to graduate anyway, but with just 84 scholarship players headed into the fall (LINK), this opens up a place for a potential grad-transfer or a walk-on to get a scholarship. Safety/linebacker Jordan Glasgow, linebacker Michael Wroblewski, and long-snapper Andrew Robinson are a few of the leading candidates to earn a scholarship.

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