Sophomore quarterback Jake Johnson says football career is over due to concussions
Jake Johnson’s football career has come to an end.
The sophomore quarterback announced Friday on his Instagram account he would no longer be able to play football due to frequent head injuries he has suffered.
“To whom it may concern. I’ve been wanting to post this for a while but honestly couldn’t find the courage to do so,” Johnson wrote in the post. “I have been told I can no longer play football for the rest of my life due the amount of concussions I have had. I had so many dreams and so many goals I wanted to accomplish on my journey and now I will never be able to.”
The risk of brain injury has lead players from college and the NFL to step away from the game.
The Dewitt native was redshirted his freshman season, but was the backup to Cooper Rush heading into 2016. He suffered a concussion when he was sacked late in the fourth quarter of Central Michigan’s season opener against Presbyterian on Sept. 1, 2016.
“This is honestly the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life,” Johnson added in the post.
The 6-foot-2 quarterback had a history of concussions before attending CMU. Johnson suffered a concussion in his high school team’s game on Sept. 26, 2014, which caused him to miss the final four games of the regular season. He returned for the playoffs five weeks later, but then suffered another concussion in the team’s district finals loss on Nov. 7, 2014.
Johnson was ranked No. 30 on the Detroit Free Press Fab 50 list. He led Dewitt to a Division 3 state championship in 2013 and was named to both the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press All-State teams.
He was a consensus 3-Star recruit in high school and was expected to compete with freshman Tony Poljan and Michigan transfer Shane Morris for the starting quarterback position in 2017.
