Florida Football: Former Gator C.J. Gardner-Johson avoids serious injury

There is one golden rule of training camp, whether it’s Florida football or the NFL, don’t get hurt. Yet every year fans of teams all across the country have to hold their breath as someone always seems to get hurt as camp opens.

Today that distinction fell upon former Florida football great C.J. Gardner-Johnson, now a member of the Detroit Lions. The good news, however, for Gardner-Johnson is he appeared to avoid a season-ending injury after the initial prognosis wasn’t great.

Florida Football: Opening day

Gardner-Johnson went down with the always-dreaded “non-contact knee injury” at practice today and had to be carted off the field. He signed a one-year, eight-million-dollar contract with Detroit in the offseason after spending last season with Philadelphia and appearing in the Super Bowl.

According to reports, the injury to Gardner-Johnson is not as serious as initially feared, and per ESPN, there was no structural damage done to his knee, and he is considered day-to-day.

Gardner-Johnson was originally drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 2019 in the fourth round. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team in 2019, and already has 11 career interceptions and 228 tackles in 55 games played across four seasons.

His NFL career follows his time as a Florida Gator, where he played in every game during the 2016, 2017, and 2018 seasons. He amassed nine interceptions, with three of them being a pick-six. He also had 12 pass breakups and 161 tackles during his three seasons in Gainesville.

Gardner-Johnson declared for the NFL Draft following his junior season.

Originally a four-star prospect and top 100 overall prospect out of Cocoa, FL, Gardner-Johnson picked the Gators as part of the class of 2016. While Florida was the front-runner the whole way, he did have interest from Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State.

At just 25 years old, Gardner-Johnson still has his best years of football ahead of him and today’s exit from practice appears to just be a minor stepback.