Keyontae Johnson Returns to Florida Gators, Helping Coach
In a Monday morning press conference, Florida Gators basketball head coach Mike White shared that forward Keyontae Johnson has returned to the team and is helping coach in practice. Johnson collapsed on the court against Florida State on Dec. 12 and had been hospitalized for 10 days with an unconfirmed condition.
"[Johnson] was at practice this morning and yesterday afternoon," White shared. "He's in good spirits, he's helping us coach. He actually blew a whistle yesterday in a dry offensive segment where he's correcting guys and leading. We're extremely grateful."
Due to privacy concerns and "incomplete information on my end", White said that he could not disclose any details regarding Johnson's health from before, during, or after the incident. That will be left to Johnson's family and his medical team to disclose, if and when the time is right to do so.
Florida postponed its next four games after the Florida State contest, against North Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida A&M, and James Madison, following Johnson's health emergency as the team awaited updates on his status and recovered from witnessing the incident.
The Gators, after returning to practice for the first time in 15 days this past Sunday, are on track to start up their season again against the Vanderbilt Commodores on Dec. 30, also kicking off their SEC schedule.
"Our guys needed to get away from it," said White. "We're really happy to be back together. We're really rusty. Our conditioning is not anywhere where it needs to be right now to be really competitive in this league. We've got a ways to go, and it's right on us."
