On Wednesday, Florida athletics director Scott Stricklin joined the Sportscene radio program with Steve Russell on WRUF and gave the listeners the latest update.
“First off, let me say the information we’re getting about Keyontae has been really, really positive in the last 48 hours,” Stricklin said. “Everybody saw what his parents put out yesterday. I actually had a chance (to visit him). I was in Dallas at CFP meetings and got back late yesterday afternoon, was able to go straight to the hospital. Had a chance to see him. He was actually awake. He was actually sitting up in a chair. You could tell he’s still been sedated, so he was still a little groggy, but he thanked me for coming by. It was good to see him and sitting up, he had family in there, his parents and others.”
Gators’ AD went on to provide some more recent information on his progress.
“I’m told today that he’s even progressed a lot since then, that he’s having good conversations with his doctors, with his coaches,” the Florida athletics director said. “He’s smiling and laughing. Still undergoing more tests. I think the tests that have gotten back so far have been positive from a medical standpoint. His prognosis seems to be trending in the right direction, but we still have a lot of questions. The medical folks have a lot of questions they want to make sure they get answered.”
When discussing Johnson’s current state of mind and emotion, Stricklin added this uplifting note.
“The one thing I told Key when I saw him yesterday is he has no idea the number of people who have been lifting him up in prayer and sending along good thoughts,” Stricklin said. “He needed to know how much he was loved, not just by Gators, I mean people all over the sporting community in the state of Florida and beyond have really lifted him up.”
Finally, Stricklin tipped his hat to his rivals up the road in Tallahassee, who conducted themselves with the utmost dignity and class.
“Just the whole FSU community was, they were really special during this time and we have a great appreciation for them doing this and showing that, at the end of the day, this is just a game. There are bigger things in sports.”