ATHENS — Still rehabbing from knee surgery when he signed with Georgia six months ago, defensive lineman Toby Johnson says he’s now 100 percent healthy and ready to make an impact this season.
As if to prove the point, the 6-foot-4, 312-pound Johnson recently did a standing back-flip on a campus lawn — a bit of acrobatics that was caught on video by teammates and posted online.
“I was scared before I did it. I was real, real scared,” Johnson said after Georgia’s practice Thursday. “I (hadn’t) done that in so long. I just wanted to test my knee to see where I was. I think it’s looking good.”
Johnson, a highly touted junior-college prospect, tore the ACL in his right knee late last season while playing for Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College.
“I thought I was going to be able to go back in the game. But when they checked me out, they were, like, ‘You’re done for the season.’ I was, like, ‘I’m not done,’” Johnson recalled. “(But when) I got up, I fell.”
He signed with Georgia in February and reported to campus in early June. Although he continues to get treatment on the knee, he said he realized in drills within a few weeks of arriving in Athens that it was fine.
“It healed up fast,” he said. “I did everything my trainers had me do and had a physical therapist. They worked with me real hard and pushed me. Now my leg is stronger than ever. No limitations.”
Johnson, a former star player at Banneker High in College Park, is making an impression on Georgia’s practice field. Defensive line coach Chris Wilson told reporters last weekend, “Toby Johnson’s kicking butt out there.”
Johnson said Thursday he’s “getting a great amount of reps” at defensive end and indicated he expects to play a lot, but he said he’s under instructions not to divulge where he currently stands on the depth chart. Learning the playbook is a work in progress.
“You can’t play fast when you don’t know the plays, but the things I do know, I think I’m doing good at,” Johnson said.
“The game is a lot faster,” he added, referring to the transition from JUCO to UGA. “Another big surprise is how everybody is just on my level. In JUCO, you’re around a lot of good players, but we didn’t work as hard as these guys do. Everybody here is good AND they work hard.”
