As Tyreke Johnson stood in the Lucas Oil Field locker room, his elated Ohio State teammates celebrating their third Big Ten championship in a row surrounding him, he laid out what he called “the blueprint that Jeff Hafley's made for me.”
The cornerback hadn’t played in the conference title game, and he didn’t get off of the bench against Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. Unable to secure a consistent role in the Buckeyes’ defensive backfield while Shaun Wade, Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette started and Cameron Brown and Sevyn Banks operated as their primary backups, Johnson played a total of 57 snaps.
Yet because of both his personal growth and, importantly, Hafley’s teachings, he felt as though he had “got everything somewhat figured out now.”
“It's just one of those things where you've got to wait your turn, work hard and when you get your opportunity, display it to the world,” Johnson said in December.
Exactly one week after Johnson said those words, hailing Hafley’s blueprint as what he planned to follow, Boston College introduced Hafley as its next coach. For some, it might’ve been an introduction to college football as a business. Johnson, though, needed nothing of the sort. He’s already gone through the wringer when it comes to his luck with position coaches.
Kerry Coombs recruited Johnson but left to coach the Tennessee Titans shortly after he arrived on campus. Taver Johnson took over as cornerbacks coach and lasted all of one year before Hafley came aboard. Again, Hafley had a one-year stint in Columbus before moving on. For Johnson, the latest position coach change had to have him rolling his eyes – Again?
“I think he had a really good start. His winter was really productive. He is a very smart player, and I'm looking forward to him competing his butt off in the fall.”– Kerry Coombs on Tyreke Johnson
This time, however, it led to a reunion. Coombs, who recruited him years ago before heading to the NFL in 2018, landed back in Columbus as a defensive coordinator once again in charge of the secondary. And his return happens to coincide with what’ll be Johnson’s biggest opportunity yet as a Buckeye.
Okudah’s gone. Arnette’s gone. Only Wade returns as a starter, and because Ohio State only got three practices worth of work in the spring, there’s uncertainty about who’ll surround him at cornerback. Welcome to Johnson’s chance to wedge his way into his most significant role while at Ohio State.
With Wade manning an outside spot, Coombs has two open starting cornerback jobs to fill, with Johnson being a possibility likely at only one of them.
“I think (Johnson) fits more outside than inside,” Coombs said a few weeks ago.
In competing to start or rotate heavily at outside cornerback, Johnson will have to ascend quickly.
While Coombs reentered the program with somewhat of a blank slate, he surely still had impressions of some of the defensive backs on the roster, and he also undoubtedly spent time going over last year's film. In 2019, Johnson suffered a torn lateral meniscus one of his knees just before preseason camp began, setting him back. He never made up the progress he lost, remaining behind Brown and Banks on the depth chart the entire season.
Hafley's gone, which allows for Johnson to begin anew when it comes to impressing his position coach. Still, experience matters, and Brown played 254 snaps last year while Banks was on the field for 170 snaps. Marcus Williamson, a rising senior, will also be in the mix, and he played 86 snaps in 2019.
Taking advantage of the heavy first-team reps he received due to a couple of injuries in Ohio State's only three spring practice, Johnson gave Coombs a look at how he's developed over the past two seasons. Once preseason camp begins, whenever that might be, he'll have to show even more progress.
“I think he had a really good start,” Coombs said of Johnson. “His winter was really productive. He is a very smart player, and I'm looking forward to him competing his butt off in the fall. I'm excited about Tyreke. I think he's going to have every opportunity to prove himself out there on the field, and I'm looking forward to watching him play.”
What makes Johnson so intriguing is the untapped potential that once made him a five-star prospect out of Jacksonville’s Trinity Christian Academy, the school that also produced Wade. Out of high school, he ranked as the No. 21 overall prospect in the 2018 cycle, becoming the Buckeyes' third-highest rated signee behind Nicholas Petit-Frere and Taron Vincent.
At Ohio State, earning a five-star designation increases expectations significantly.
Right now, the Buckeyes have 13 former five-star recruits on their roster: Justin Hilliard (2015), Baron Browning (2017), Shaun Wade (2017), Wyatt Davis (2017), Petit-Frere (2018), Vincent (2018), Johnson (2018), Zach Harrison (2019), Garrett Wilson (2019), Harry Miller (2019), Julian Fleming (2020), Paris Johnson (2020) and Jaxon Smith-Njigba (2020).
Not all of them will reach the lofty heights hinted at based on their recruiting rankings. They're not all no-doubt-about-it eventual first-round picks – even though a couple are trending that way. However, the natural ability in all of them, including Johnson, is evident.
With an opening at cornerback, it's up to Johnson – one of two five-star cornerbacks on the roster – to rise to the occasion for what's undoubtedly his biggest opportunity yet in 2020.
