ATHENS, Ga. — If you want to know anything about Kelin Johnson's state of mind, just look at his face.

After a befuddling spate of injuries dogged him through the first two-thirds of the season, Georgia's coaches didn't like what they saw.

Johnson teetered on the edge of dejection when injuries to his ribs, arm, head and knee knocked him completely out of two games and parts of four others.

"You've got to go through heartache to get positive production," the senior safety said. "Nothing comes easy. It was very mind-boggling. I thought it was the devil playing tricks on me."

Johnson will play his final game as a Bulldog when Georgia meets Hawai'i in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1.

Johnson's fight to stay on the field reached its lowest point at midseason when he received an erroneous initial diagnosis that a knee injury would bench him three to four weeks, which would have wiped out most of his senior season. The report turned out to be false. He missed one game and played his best in wins against Auburn, Kentucky and Georgia Tech.

"Kelin is an emotional guy," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "He's a high-energy guy. He would wear his emotions on his sleeve more than most guys and that's not all bad. It's pretty easy to read him, whether he's up or down. When he was down, we were really concerned whether he was going to go into the tank a little bit and we had to work with him to get back up."

This was supposed to be Johnson's banner season. He entered 2007 as the Bulldogs' most experienced defensive back after serving as an apprentice for three seasons. But he severely bruised his ribs in the second game of the season, a loss to South Carolina. He missed the ensuing win against Western Carolina. The next week against Alabama he strained his right triceps. A week later he suffered a concussion against Ole Miss.

Although none of the injuries were major, they pulled him off of the playing and practice fields. The bad run culminated when he strained his knee against Florida and heard his season might be over.

"I wasn't going to let the devil beat me up," Johnson said. "I wasn't going to let the injuries get the best of me. There were a lot of positive people in my life helping me and pulling me out of the dumps."

Johnson credited director of sports medicine Ron Courson, strength and conditioning coach Dave Van Halanger, assistant strength and conditioning coach Rex Bradbury, defensive coordinator Willie Martinez and Richt with talking him out of his blues.

"Some days I was quiet, which wasn't me," Johnson said. "I'm usually a vocal guy. I'm the hype guy. But when I was quiet, coach (Van Halanger) would come to me and say 'Something's not right.' Coach Martinez would say the same thing. It felt like everything I'd been working so hard for was slipping right through my fingertips."

His injuries turned out to be less severe. He sat out the homecoming game against Troy and hit the practice field at full speed in preparation for Auburn.

The week of the Auburn game would have had an emotional charge anyway because it is the Deep South's oldest rivalry. Georgia also was in a fight for the SEC East lead and Richt let the team wear black jerseys instead of its traditional red.

Johnson returned from injury and stoked an already fiery crowd by intercepting quarterback Brandon Cox on the game's first snap.

"God just blessed me," Johnson said. "On the first play of the game, who would have ever thought that I'd get an interception in the blackout. And then who'd have ever thought I'd get another one and I almost got a third. God blessed me so much. He was just reassuring me that he's got his hands on me."

Johnson had four tackles and two interceptions in the 45-20 win over Auburn. The next week he had another interception and a blocked punt in the 24-13 win against Kentucky. He finished with a season-high eight tackles in the 31-17 win against Georgia Tech.

Johnson's last game comes against Hawai'i's pass-driven offense.

"That's going to be a lot of fun, especially for a defensive back," Johnson said. "That's a fun game for a defensive back because they're going to put the ball in the air 40 or 50 times. That's 40 or 50 opportunities to get an interception or knock the ball away or get a big hit on a receiver. We've never seen an offense like theirs and they've never seen a defense like ours so it's going to be a lot of fun. I can't wait."

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