Tae Johnson knew what was coming.
As the freshman safety chased down USC quarterback Husan Longstreet he wasn’t thinking — he just knew what to do.
“We study plays, we watch a lot of film every week and that's what we do it for, to be able to see things before it even happens,” Johnson said. “That's kind of what happened on that play. I just kind of knew it was coming. Like we knew all week, if the backup quarterback gets in short-yardage situations, we know it's coming. That's kind of what we're looking forward to. That's the type of players we want to have on the field and that's the type of player I want to be.”
Now Johnson doesn't have some crazy explanation for what he saw on that play that led him to run down the Trojan, it just felt like it was what he was supposed to do.
“I wish I could tell you more,” Johnson said. “I would just say I just feel like I was supposed to do it, to be honest. More than anything, it feels like I just knew, really. Instincts just took over. It feels good to do stuff like that, because that's what our defense needed in that moment.
“And to hold them to three points right there was pretty crucial for us, to be honest. It helped down the line of the game. I just feel like it's just what I'm supposed to do and it's normal. It's just what I do, to be honest.”
Where a lot of Johnson’s instincts come from is just being prepared. The Fort Wayne, Indiana native has changed everything about the way he watches film this season, and it’s paying off on Saturdays.
“It definitely changed a lot,” Johnson said. “As far as like a year ago, especially when I was hurt, I didn't really know how much film it took, all of that stuff. I didn't really know until I started playing, until I started being in meetings and stuff.
“Now, it's definitely like I have a routine. Outside of practice, I have to make sure I watch at least 45 minutes a night. I look over each install 45 minutes a day. By the time the game comes, I have already looked over it four times, plus practice. It just makes me play faster. It makes the game easier. It makes me spot a lot of things faster.”
With time, Johnson’s instincts have become second nature on the football field, but it’s not just him that has grown into his role, the entire defense is playing with a refound confidence.
“We're playing with confidence and more swagger,” Johnson said. “Just really getting back to our identities and getting back to what we do, to be honest. It was really just all within us as far as what jump we can take. We know we're the only people in the way of how much better we can get. We're just finding our identity each and every day. Finding that swagger, finding that juice that carried us last year. We just look to keep building on that as the season keeps going.”
Johnson believes the defense has been able to refind their confidence in practice, which leads to better execution on gamedays.
“That's where you get your confidence and your swagger from,” Johnson said. “It just starts in practice and then practice translates to the games. Once you do it in practice and do it in the game, then your teammates see that, your coaches see that. The swagger, the confidence, the trust, everything, the team morale just goes up. Players start trusting each other.”
The safety is showing that swagger on the field the last handful of weeks, recording 15 tackles in his last two games. According to Johnson, his newfound dedication in his preparation had made the game slow down.
“Every game, every day…I'm learning different things,” Johnson said. “So I would say it's definitely slowing down for me everywhere. The biggest part for me, I would say, would just be…the run gaps, because I feel like that's where I needed to improve my game to be a complete safety.”
And despite the impact he is having for the Irish this season, Johnson knows he still has more to learn in order to become the best version of himself on the field.
“I still could prepare a lot more, I could prepare a lot better,” Johnson said. “But definitely that's where I'm at right now. I feel like I want to keep growing in that part of my game. I'm confident in every other part of my game. I feel like if I just keep growing in that area of my game, I could build myself into the complete safety that I want to be.”
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