Sherrone Moore shares the latest on Will Johnson's injury status during bye week

Trent Knoop | Nov 12, 2024

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Michigan hasn't seen junior cornerback Will Johnson since he left early on against Illinois. Johnson was out against Michigan State, Oregon, and then this past week against Indiana. There are just two games left in the season and with Michigan's second bye week upon us, head coach Sherrone Moore still says Johnson is progressing toward hitting the field in 2024.

"He's working towards it," Moore said on Monday night about Johnson. "He's gonna try to, you know, he wants to play, and he got to running a little bit this week, and so we'll see how he feels as we go into next week."

There are plenty of fans who believe they won't see Johnson wear maize and blue anymore. Johnson, a likely top-10 pick in April's 2025 NFL Draft, has had a rough season. Although he's made big plays like the pix-six against USC, Johnson has struggled to stay on the field. But shutting it down isn't in the plans according to Moore.

"Oh, yeah," Moore said when asked if Johnson will return in 2024. "Will has no plan of just shutting it down or anything like that," Moore said. "Will, if he could go out there, he would go out there in a heartbeat. And, I know that he’ll be back out there at some point this season, whether it’s this week, next week, or whatever it is. And there’s zero doubt in my mind that he, the competitor that wants to be out there with his teammates, so I know he’ll be back."

Other injury update

Starting right guard Gio El-Hadi left the game against Indiana and didn't return. Former starting center Dom Giudice slid into right guard and played for the Wolverines. Moore hinted that El-Hadi might be able to go next week when Northwestern comes to Ann Arbor.

"He's doing okay. He'll be probably a little bit limited this week, and it's good with the bye week, and then probably back to more next week."

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