The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1503142
104 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2023 FOOTBALL PREVIEW BY JOHN BORTON W ill Johnson stood on the Ohio Stadium turf ex- ulting, celebrat- ing the hostile takeover with his Michigan teammates, thoroughly immersed in the moment. He spent little time pondering how he'd feel in scarlet and gray during that heady swirl of tri- umph. It could have played out that way, though, for Michigan's standout sopho- more cornerback. The Detroit native looked long and hard at Ohio State, not to mention USC, when the offers began piling up during his standout high school career at Grosse Point South. Something didn't sit right with the Buckeyes' approach. The son of former Wolverine defensive back Deon Johnson already found himself predisposed toward Michigan, after viewing nearly all of his dad's games from 1990-94 on YouTube. OSU's pitch solidified the younger Johnson's eventual wearing of the winged helmet. "The reason I didn't commit there was partly because I felt disrespected in the way they were recruiting me," Johnson recalled. "Yeah, it was definitely personal. It proved to me, Michigan and them that I made the right decision to come here and that I could play with the best of them." Johnson played no small role in beat- ing the Buckeyes, posting a career-high 8 tackles in that game last fall. He wanted to demonstrate to everyone in the building where the respect belonged. "It was things like them recruiting other corners before me, taking other corners," Johnson noted of the OSU re- cruitment going off the rails. "Saying one thing and doing another. They were sell- ing things to me, but it didn't seem as real." The scoreboard reading Michigan 45, Ohio State 23 was as real as it gets. So was the way the Wolverines hung tough when the Buckeyes grabbed the early ad- vantage, how they survived the storm in Columbus and ultimately brought the thunder down the stretch. The manner in which the Wolverines pulled away, then-sophomore running back Donovan Edwards ripping off 75- and 85-yard touchdown runs, won't soon be forgotten. Neither will Michigan's de- fensive destruction of OSU quarterback C.J. Stroud's final home game, in which the Buckeye quarterback got picked off twice, and an offense that averaged 46.6 points per game heading into the regular- season finale came away with half that versus the Wolverines. "The Ohio State-Michigan rivalry al- ways meant a lot to me, and finally play- ing in that game, I think it meant a little more to me, personally," Johnson stressed. "The thing that stood out to me the most was how locked in I was before the game. I feared no man before that game. After, being able to celebrate with my family, cel- ebrate with my teammates and just be able to take over that field, it meant a lot. OSU Is 'Personal' Will Johnson Relishes 'The Game' For Many Reasons Johnson played a big role in beating the Buckeyes last year, posting a career-high 8 tackles (including 7 solo stops) in U-M's 45-23 win in Columbus. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL