Nebraska’s Rahmir Johnson eyes ‘successful’ farewell tour after season-ending injury in 2023

He’s had an offseason to do that, and the goals are straightforward anyway.

Johnson wants the Huskers to earn bowl eligibility for the first time since he arrived in Lincoln. He wants to contend for a Big Ten championship, punch a ticket to the expanded College Football Playoff and — if the cards fall right, he said — play for a national title.

But one thing, in particular, topped the list.

“Staying healthy,” he said Tuesday during NU media day. “That would be successful.”

A sixth-year senior, Johnson showed flashes at the beginning of last season before suffering a shoulder dislocation, one that required season-ending surgery, in the Huskers’ Week 3 win over Northern Illinois.

It wasn’t the first time, either.

The same thing happened to Johnson in 2021, his first year as an integral part of NU’s backfield. He was the team’s second-leading rusher through the first 10 games, starting seven of them. Then a concussion sidelined him for the final two games.

“For some reason,” Johnson said, “I just can’t put one season together and have a full, complete season.”

Johnson, from New York City, joined Nebraska in 2019 as a three-star prospect. That fall, in the four games redshirts are allowed to play in, he had 21 carries for 67 yards. The bulk of that — 18 touches, 55 yards and his first touchdown — came in a blowout win over Maryland.

His role remained limited in 2020, appearing in six games during a year altered by COVID-19.

The next season was supposed to be different, though.

And it was for the first two months.

Johnson finished 2021 with 112 carries, 495 yards and four rushing touchdowns, and 16 catches, 197 yards and another two scores. His breakout performance included 103 all-purpose yards at No. 3 Oklahoma, and Johnson followed that with 172 all-purpose yards three weeks later against No. 9 Michigan.

After returning to a limited role in 2022, he planned to use last fall to prove how much he had grown, how ready he was.

That opportunity was snatched away three games in.

“I wanted to show that the player I was from 2021 is nowhere close to who I am now,” Johnson said. “I wanted to show you guys everything. The run, the blocking, the passing, the catching. I wanted to show the complete player of Rahmir Johnson.”

That’s what he hopes to do this year in his farewell tour.

Johnson never expected to spend six years in Lincoln. It’s a stark difference from home. But he’s back for one last run because of the way last season ended. He wanted a chance to finish the job right, he said. Johnson believes there’s still more for him to do.

The decision to return was rather easy, Johnson said.

His path back to the field was not.

Johnson spent the past nine months trying to get back in the flow of things. He finished rehabbing his shoulder in February, right before the Huskers’ mat drills. Getting back — and better, even — was always his main thing.

People noticed, whether Johnson knew it or not.

“Rahmir has worked his tail off,” sophomore running back Emmett Johnson said. The two are close. Each one called the other a brother on Tuesday. “He approached that injury the best I’ve ever seen anybody approach an injury.

“I know he’s gonna come back hungry, and he’s gonna be successful.”

To get through it all, Rahmir relied on the people around him. There are mental hurdles that come with an injury like that. His teammates kept his head up. His family did, too. He has a good circle, he said, both on and off the field.

“It’s football; it comes with a lot of unexpected things,” Johnson said. “For me, I’ve dealt with adversity outside of football all my life. I’m kind of used to knowing how to manage through the bad and see the good that comes out of it toward the end.”

A season after finishing second in rushing in the Big Ten, the Huskers will again have a competitive group of running backs.

Nebraska landed Oregon transfer Dante Dowdell during the offseason. Gabe Ervin Jr. is back for his fourth year. Emmett Johnson will be a sophomore. Former New Jersey high school standout Kwinten Ives won’t have a redshirt.

Rahmir Johnson welcomes the competition. He thinks each back brings something different to the table. For Johnson, offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said that’s being a smart, versatile player. Satterfield wishes Johnson wouldn’t have missed last season, he said.

But Johnson is willing to do whatever it takes to see the field.

He’s played running back. He’s returned kicks — that’s how he dislocated his shoulder. When he’s on the punt team, he takes pride in making the returner call for a fair catch.

“I like making a big impact anywhere possible,” Johnson said. “I even told coach he can put me on defense and I’ll do that, too.”

Johnson admittedly doesn’t talk about it much, but he has aspirations of playing in the NFL. He takes one thing at a time, though, and for the time being that’s this fall.

Regardless of what happens in training camp, and regardless of what happens over the next four months, he’ll stay focused on a few of the things that mean the most.

The kind of things that’d make this season a success.

“I just want to win,” Johnson said. “I want to do everything in my power to get back to where I was and even better. I want to put everything together and have a full season of everybody seeing what I can do for this team, for this program and for the state of Nebraska.”