Ohio State football: Xavier Johnson proved them wrong

When reports began to trickle out of Ohio State football’s preseason camp that Xavier Johnson might factor in the receiver rotation, some sounded the alarm and said if the Buckeyes have to use him, they’re going to be in real trouble. Saturday night, Xavier Johnson proved them wrong.

Trailing Notre Dame 10-7 with five minutes to go in the third quarter, the Buckeyes began a drive from their own thirty-yard line. They reached the Irish nineteen before a penalty pushed them back into a second and twenty-one. C.J. Stroud found Johnson over the middle for ten yards to set up a key third down.

Instead of sitting back in coverage like they had most of the night, Notre Dame got very aggressive and blitzed both safeties. Johnson released straight down the field, gave a head fake that caused cornerback Jaden Mickey to turn his shoulders, and then broke on an angle towards the end zone.

He easily hauled in the strike thrown by Stroud and fought off Mickey’s attempt to strip the ball. The Buckeyes took a lead they’d not relinquished and the fifth-year graduate player from Cincinnati had proven all his doubters wrong. Oh, and for good measure, Johnson made the tackle on the ensuing kickoff.

So, who is Xavier Johnson? He’s a product of Summit Country Day High School who had offers from other schools, including perennial FCS power North Dakota State but decided to stay close to home and accept an offer from Urban Meyer to join the Ohio State football program as a preferred walk-on.

He has played cornerback and running back (four carries for seventeen yards in 2021), but his real value has come on special teams where he has been a mainstay. He made six tackles covering kicks last year, returned four kickoffs, and was on the field for 224 special teams plays.

He’s seen action in thirty-two games in his Ohio State football career. Before last season began, the coaching staff awarded him with a scholarship. Johnson kept it quiet because he did not want to take attention away from the team. He graduated last December with a degree in consumer and family financial services.

Johnson had a very good spring practice and made it clear his mindset was to crack the rotation at receiver. Because the team is loaded at this position, many scoffed. He said he was a better receiver because of all that talent around him and kept working.

Those who doubted his ability to play the position at this level kept predicting gloom and doom if the Buckeyes had to use him. When his time came, Xavier Johnson proved them wrong.