Football takes a back seat when something like this happens, as it should.

Florida Atlantic quarterback De'Andre Johnson didn't travel with the team to play Wisconsin last week. At the time, people in charge at FAU didn't give an exact reason as to why the gunslinger wouldn't be around. Instead, they opted to use the vague “medical reasons” as the statement released.

We now know why. The team was protecting the player's privacy as he was dealing with a serious issue.

According to the Sun Sentinel, a Facebook post by Johnson’s father revealed the quarterback had surgery last week for two blood clots in his arm. Head coach Lane Kiffin confirmed on Monday that the signal-caller remained in a local hospital.

“It was pretty scary,” Kiffin said.

My goodness. Yeah that sounds scary.

It is not yet known when — or if, really — De'Andre Johnson will return to FAU this season. Obviously, everyone wishes him the best of health.

For football related things, while we recently argued that rooting for Lane Kiffin is the right way to live, he does have an uphill battle to climb.

Moving on without Johnson, for however long that ends up being, the program is still recovering from Hurricane Irma. It has been a big blow for Florida Atlantic, as well as surrounding communities, and the road to the end of the season is filled with more pitfalls than you can shake a stick at.

Basically, in the most roundabout way as humanly possible, Kiffin has become an underdog of sorts.