After the final game of his college career ended, Tez Johnson waited for his turn once more.
He waited, standing behind Ohio State quarterback Will Howard until Howard had completed a postgame interview following the Buckeyes’ 41-21 win over Oregon in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl. He waited so he could deliver a message to Howard, which was subsequently captured by nearby cameras, that resonated with fans everywhere because of the class and sportsmanship with which it was said.
‘I respect you, boy. Everything you have, bro, you deserve it,’ Johnson told Howard. ‘Go win it all for your team. I respect you. They need you. Keep leading them.’
With that, Johnson jogged off the Rose Bowl field and presumably into the start of his NFL career. Though the outcome wasn’t what Oregon hoped for, it capped a remarkable run for Johnson at the college level. He was an under-recruited three-star recruit from Pinson, Alabama who spent his first three seasons at Troy University before transferring to Oregon to join up with his former high school teammate and adopted brother, current Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix.
This year, Johnson became Oregon’s leading receiver and finished with 83 catches for 898 yards and 10 touchdowns. He had 1,182 receiving yards for the Ducks during the 2023 season.
Before Johnson went viral for his gesture towards Howard, ESPN’s ‘College Gameday’ featured a segment during Wednesday’s show about his journey to the CFP quarterfinals and relationship with the Nix family. It even elicited some regret from former Alabama coach Nick Saban on set once it was over.
‘What I’m sitting here thinking about is Tez Johnson is from Birmingham, 45 minutes away from Alabama, and we didn’t recruit the guy,’ Saban said to laughs. ‘Who was recruiting Birmingham? And I should’ve fired their (butt)!’
‘He went to Troy first,’ Saban added, ‘and we didn’t recruit when he left there either.’
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
