Stephen Johnson retires from football

Stephen Johnson has played his last down of football.

During a Tuesday interview with KSR, Johnson revealed that he is retiring from football. He’s also set to undergo surgery on his shoulder and knee this offseason, but the decision to step away from the game he loved comes from him losing his desire to keep playing.

“I am completely done with football,” Johnson said. “That is the big news. I really don’t have the fire or desire or drive to keep on playing it. To have these surgeries on top of it, it would shut my body down.”

Johnson, who just finished his senior season, likely would have not heard his name called in the 2018 NFL Draft, but it’s possible a team would have invited him to training camp. That is, unless Johnson is about to spend much of the offseason recovering from multiple surgical procedures.

In that case, Johnson’s professional outlook in 2018 was murky at best. It sounds like he’s ready to hang up his cleats and move on to the next chapter of his life. He also said he’d like to work with UK Athletics going forward, so perhaps we’ll still be seeing him in Lexington in the near future.

Good luck to Johnson in his future endeavors, and thanks for the memories!