Ju’Juan Johnson Moving to Running Back per Kelly

Louisiana’s all-time high school yardage leader is switching sides of the ball.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly announced Thursday that Ju’Juan Johnson is taking snaps at running back. Johnson had been working with the defense as a Star. He’ll now aid the Tigers as a position that is seriously lacking depth.

Senior John Emery Jr. tore his ACL on Tuesday, leaving LSU with just three healthy scholarship running backs. Johnson becomes the fourth.

“He’s an exciting player,” Kelly said. “We feel like we can shuffle things around on the defensive side of the ball and get him involved. There’s a learning curve, but I think he can do some things for us this weekend.”

Johnson accounted for 14,451 yards and 171 touchdowns as a quarterback at Lafayette Christian Academy, both state records. He was Mr. Football in the state in 2023.

Johnson joins a corps of Josh Williams, Kaleb Jackson and Caden Durham in the Tiger backfield.