Lucas Johnson’s 2019 season didn’t go as expected as the redshirt sophomore was only used sparingly throughout the season.
Entering the season, it was expected that Lucas Johnson would get the nod as the Yellow Jackets starting quarterback. However, it wasn’t Johnson who was the starting quarterback but Tobias Oliver who got the nod instead. That being said, Johnson did not nearly play as much in 2019 as originally expected coming into the season.
Over the course of the Jackets season, Johnson appeared in just six games on the season with 37 passing attempts. Johnson saw most of those attempts come against South Florida (17) and The Citadel (10). Out of those 37 passing attempts, Johnson completed 21 of them, a 56.7% completion percentage. With those 21 completions, Johnson threw for 187-yards and one touchdown.
When in at quarterback, Johnson was a victim of a Jackets offense that was still struggling and not ready to be explosive. Despite completing 11-of-17 passing attempts against South Florida, Johnson threw for just 45-yards in that game. A week later in the Jackets loss to The Citadel, Johnson completed 5-of-10 passes but for a higher total yardage at 91-yards. He also threw his lone touchdown of the season against The Bulldogs.
Johnson’s last appearance of the season came against Pittsburgh, where he completed 5-of-8 passing attempts for 51-yards. Overall, the 2019 season probably didn’t go the way that Johnson expected the season to go. That being said, the skill set is there for Johnson to be a proficient passer for the Jackets.
2020 Outlook:
At this point in time, Lucas Johnson is set to return in 2020 for the Yellow Jackets. That being said, Johnson could be a viable option to transfer out of the program this offseason as his playing time next season on paper would most likely be low. If Johnson does stay with the program as he would be at this point, he will most likely enter the season as the Jackets second or third string quarterback. That being said, that is highly dependent on the development of James Graham, Jordan Yates, and any potential quarterbacks the Jackets bring in through the 2020 recruiting class.