The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1508023
C.J. TO THE C.J. TO THE FRAY FRAY Cornelius Johnson Worked His Way To Buckeye Slayer Status BY JOHN BORTON T he Don supplied the coup de grâce, junior running back Donovan Edwards' 75- and 85-yard touchdown runs finishing off the Buckeyes last No- vember. But without graduate wideout Cornelius Jones' first-half heroics in the passing game, Michigan's fiercest Big Ten foe would have been a much tougher nut to crack. Remember, the Wolverines faced four first-half deficits in the eventual 45-23 humbling of OSU — 7-0, 10-3, 13-10 and 20-17. U-M rushed for 10 yards on 11 tries in the opening 30 minutes. It never led in the game until a 6-foot-3, 208-pound winged-helmeted warrior out of Greenwich, Conn., streaked be- hind the entire Ohio State defense and hauled in a 75-yard smart bomb from quarterback J.J. McCarthy. T h e l i g h t n i n g b o l t to u c h d ow n stunned the Ohio State crowd of 106,787 into misery-saturated silence. It proved especially frightening, given the fact that OSU fans comforted them- selves for 365 days with the anticipa- tion of putting McCarthy under siege in Columbus, and completely nullifying what they viewed as a vulnerable U-M passing attack. The shocker also arrived one Michi- gan play from scrimmage after John- son gathered in a routine sideline toss, slipped a tackle by OSU cornerback Cameron Brown and sprinted 69 yards for his first touchdown of the day. Buck- eye bombshells, brought to you by John- son & Johnson. In the end, there weren't enough Band-Aids to cover the wounds. Johnson makes it clear, he's all about the here and now. What happened last year does not matter. It's all about mak- ing 2023 everything it can possibly be. But he did relent, for a fleeting mo- ment, while musing about racing to the end zone unabated in Columbus and reducing a cacophony to a smattering of desperate whimpers. "That's a dream for any player putting on the winged helmet, handling it down in Columbus," Johnson acknowledged. "Do- ing that down in Columbus was a dream come true, being able to secure those. I wanted to contribute in any way possible. It's like we practiced all year. Just looking out for it, expecting it to be there." T h e t h r o w s w e re t h e r e . T h e catches were made, and the Buckeyes were reduced to rubble for a second straight season. "I think it's an under-appreciated part of that game," Michigan football radio play-by-play man Doug Karsch opined. "You think back to the way his- tory remembers John Kolesar, for two long touchdown passes against Ohio State — one in Ann Arbor from the cur- rent coach, Jim Harbaugh, and one from Demetrius Brown down in Columbus. History remembers John Kolesar very favorably, and it should be the same way with Cornelius Johnson. I think history will treat him very well. 26 THE WOLVERINE ❱ OCTOBER 2023 Johnson hauled in 32 catches for 499 yards and a team-leading 6 touchdown recep- tions a year ago. Through three games this season, he already has 13 catches for 239 yards and 1 touchdown. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL