As Tyreke Johnson stood in the Lucas Oil Field locker room, his elated Ohio State teammates celebrating their third Big Ten championship in a row surrounding him, he laid out what he called “the blueprint that Jeff Hafley's made for me.”
The cornerback hadn’t played in the conference title game, and he didn’t get off of the bench against Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. Unable to secure a consistent role in the Buckeyes’ defensive backfield while Shaun Wade, Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette started and Cameron Brown and Sevyn Banks operated as their primary backups, Johnson played a total of 57 snaps.