Jaylen Johnson sat on the turf, watching in a huddled mass as Jeff Hafley cherry-picked just one of the dozens of talented high school players sitting in front of him to stand up and demonstrate a defensive back drill at one of Ohio State’s one-day position camps this summer.
Instead of any number of the juniors or seniors in the crowd that June 15 afternoon, Hafley chose a 15-year-old that had caught the coach’s eye just two days prior at an overnight camp hosted by the Buckeyes.
And as this sophomore-to-be showed his older veteran peers the proper cornerback footwork, gliding his cleats smoothly across the turf and properly keeping his hips low while swiveling side-to-side, Johnson wasn’t paying attention to the exhibition.