Stafon Johnson (born February 6, 1988) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

. He was signed by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2010. He played college football at

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

. He was also a member of the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

Early years

Johnson played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

Susan Miller Dorsey High School Susan Miller Dorsey High School is a high school located in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, California. It is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school serves Baldwin Hills, Baldwin Village, Jefferson Park, West Adams and ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

. He played running back and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

.Eric Sondheimer
Younger Players Win Over Veterans
''Los Angeles Times'', December 5, 2003, Accessed September 29, 2009. Going into his junior season, he was regarded as one of the top three running backs in his region.Eric Sondheimer
How They Rate
''Los Angeles Times'', September 2, 2004, Accessed September 29, 2009. His best season came as a senior in 2005 when he rushed for 2,197 yards on 247 carries with 22

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

. He finished his high school career with a city record 5,777 rushing yards and 58 touchdowns.Eric Sondheimer
Taft Seeded No. 1 for City Playoffs
''Los Angeles Times'', November 12, 2005, Accessed September 29, 2009. A highly regarded recruit, Johnson was the No. 18 overall prospect in the country and the No. 2 running back by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heck ...

. He received offers from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

and paid serious attention to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. He ultimately chose USC, noting that he liked the coaches and its proximity to his parents.Martin Henderson and Dan Arritt
Dorsey’s Johnson Is USC-Bound
''Los Angeles Times'', January 28, 2006, Accessed September 29, 2009.

College career

During his

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. A ...

season, Johnson played in three games, rushing for 17 yards on three carries.Bill Plaschke
USC’s Johnson makes a run with extra purpose
''Los Angeles Times'', August 31, 2007, Accessed September 29, 2009.Gary Klein
Johnson is moving up depth chart
''Los Angeles Times'', August 24, 2007, Accessed September 29, 2009. 2007-0915-USCNeb-StafonJohnson1

Johnson had a breakthrough in the 2007 season, finishing with 673 rushing yards and five touchdowns.David Wharton and Gary Klein
Johnson goes the extra yards
''Los Angeles Times'', September 16, 2007, Accessed September 29, 2009. He ran for 122 yards and a touchdown in 14 carries against

before suffering a foot injury.Gary Klein
USC rewind & fast forward
''Los Angeles Times'', October 1, 2007, Accessed September 29, 2009. The injury, which was first diagnosed a game earlier as a left foot bruise, included a sprain that kept him out of practices and limited his playing time for the rest of the season.Gary Klein
Johnson’s injury is more serious
''Los Angeles Times'', October 12, 2007, Accessed September 29, 2009. He returned at the end of the season, rushing for 104 yards in the Rose Bowl.USC tailbacks: A closer look
''Los Angeles Times'', August 17, 2008, Accessed September 29, 2009. As a junior in 2008, Johnson led the Trojans in rushing yards with 705 yards on 138 carries and nine touchdowns. He had 305 yards on 42 punt returns.

Barbell accident

On September 28, 2009, Johnson suffered an injury when the

barbell A barbell is a piece of exercise equipment used in weight training, bodybuilding, weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman, consisting of a long bar, usually with weights attached at each end. Barbells range in length from to above , alth ...

he was lifting fell on his throat while performing a bench press during a routine team workout. Bleeding from his mouth and nose, he was rushed to

California Hospital Medical Center Dignity Health-California Hospital Medical Center is located in the South Park district of downtown Los Angeles, California at 1401 S. Grand Avenue. The 318-bed community hospital has been serving downtown and its neighboring communities for wel ...

and had three emergency surgeries to repair damage to his crushed

vocal cord In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speech ...

, adam's apple and torn muscles.Garry Paskwietz
Stafon Johnson surgery update
, WeAreSC.com (An ESPN Affiliate), September 28, 2009, Accessed September 29, 2009.Gary Klein
Stafon Johnson's fitness saved his life, doctor says
''Los Angeles Times'', September 30, 2009, Accessed September 30, 2009. Doctors partially credited his survival to well developed muscles around his neck, which helped him keep open a breathing passage, as well as his level of fitness. He was moved to

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2, ...

, and was released on October 15, 2009, though he was still unable to speak and had a breathing tube in his throat.Gary Klein
Stafon Johnson grins as he is discharged from hospital
''Los Angeles Times'', October 15, 2009, Accessed October 15, 2009. The injury ended his 2009 season, during which he had run for a team-high five

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

s in the Trojans' first four games.Scott M. Reid
USC's Carroll: Johnson doing better, prognosis good
''The Orange County Register'', September 29, 2009, Accessed September 30, 2009. As a fourth-year senior, Johnson was eligible to enter the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

or apply to the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility because of a medical hardship. Later in the 2009 season, the USC football team honored Johnson by wearing helmet stickers that read "STA FIGHT ON" while playing rival

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

.Gary Klein
USC football: Stafon Johnson expected to be released from hospital Wednesday
LATimes.com, October 13, 2009, Accessed October 14, 2009. On January 24, 2011, Johnson sued USC and the former assistant conditioning coach who was present for negligence related to the accident.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2010 NFL Draft The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football player