MIAMI GARDENS — Deandre Johnson, the former Miami Hurricanes linebacker who survived a stabbing in high school and tried to make the Miami Dolphins in 2022, has died.
Johnson’s agent, Hector Antonio Ruiz, confirmed his death to The Palm Beach Post, although the cause of death could not be independently established. He was 26.
Linebacker Deandre Johnson, from the University of Miami, is trying to make the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent.Although Johnson did not realize his dream of playing in the NFL, he repeatedly said he considered himself “blessed” to simply have the chance when the Dolphins signed him to a free-agent contract. That perspective was due to a 2015 incident at Miami’s Killian High in which a girl he barely knew stabbed him. A family lawyer told The Miami Herald at the time that doctors made a significant incision along his abdomen to repair a cut artery and collapsed lung.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I was blessed, man,” Johnson said during a break in the Dolphins’ offseason training program. “I was minutes away from losing my life, so I’m thankful. I’m thankful for the doctors. I’m thankful for everything that lined up. Every day I wake up, it’s another opportunity.”
Dolphins linebacker Deandre Johnson celebrates a sack against Tampa Bay's Kyle Trask.In a preseason game against Tampa Bay, Johnson had a half sack, two tackles, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. His time with the Dolphins wasn’t his final chance in the league. Last year, he was in the Green Bay Packers’ camp.
Tennessee’s athletic website reported in 2020 that Johnson had been stabbed three times in the chest by a student with emotional and mental trauma. Her attack forced surgeons to drain a lung filled with blood.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I remember my parents telling me that the first thing I was asking was, ‘Am I going to be able to continue playing football?’ ” Johnson said in the UT story.
Before attending Killian, Johnson helped Miami-Southridge win a state championship in 2016.
In 2021, Johnson, playing a fifth collegiate season, led the Hurricanes with eight tackles for loss. He also had 4.5 sacks that year.
Simply playing in Hard Rock Stadium, he said, had given him a thrill.
“Being a young kid, you always seen the Hurricanes and the Miami Dolphins growing up, playing,” he said. “So to be in these colors, to be in the locker room, growing up right down the street, it’s an opportunity and I’m blessed for it.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Deandre Johnson, who tried to make Miami Dolphins in 2022, dead at 26
AdvertisementAdvertisement
