FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas running back Dominique Johnson suffered a torn ACL in practice early last week, head coach Sam Pittman confirmed Monday in a press conference.
The non-contact injury occurred in the same knee that Johnson injured last season, from which he was rehabbing in the offseason and early portion of the current season.
"He made a cut, on air, and tore his ACL again," Pittman said. "It's really unfortunate for the team, certainly for him... He actually practiced the next day and then he did not practice on Thursday, and we found out Thursday when we got the MRI."
"It's certainly disheartening for him because he had worked so hard to try get back."
Johnson's injury will force him to miss the rest of the season but Pittman expressed optimism that the running back could be back in time for the start of fall camp.
"The silver lining if there is one, and there is one... is he can use it as a redshirt year for him," Pittman said. "We've kind of approached it that way.... By the team he got healthy, he would be ready for fall camp, which certainly we found it didn't help him this year missing fall camp. So, we're going with all of the positives out of certainly a negative situation."
Johnson played in four games this season, registering eight carries for 43 yards.
Last season, as a sophomore, he played in all 13 games, tallying 97 carries for 575 yards and 7 touchdowns.
