Jadar Johnson's week in the desert at the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl mirrored his Clemson career. The Tigers safety came in mostly anonymous but, soon enough, found a way to get noticed.
"That's Jadar for you," Clemson center Jay Guillermo said. "He likes to talk a little bit."
Johnson can do more than talk, as he showed in Clemson's historic win over Ohio State. But let's begin there.
His straight talk about Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett was labeled trash talk during an otherwise benign week of previewing. If Ohio State had beaten Clemson behind a career performance from Barrett, Johnson would have been a goat wearing Tiger paws, not unlike Oklahoma backup QB Austin Kendall, who called Ohio State's offense "basic," days before the Buckeyes put up 45 points in a win over the Sooners in Week 3.
Clemson beat Ohio State 31-0 and Barrett finished with a raw QBR of 12.7, the lowest of any game he has completed for the Buckeyes. Johnson forced a fumble and nearly forced another, helping the Clemson defense deliver a historic performance.
The easy conclusion is that Johnson emerged validated. But there's a larger takeaway about a player who nearly walked away from Clemson, only to wait his turn and grow into an important part of a defense that has put the Tigers a win away from their first national title since 1981.
"When I said that statement, I didn't mean any harm or anything by it," Johnson said. "I respect [Barrett] as a player. I was just giving my honest assessment of him. That's the type of person I am, my personality. I'm a very confident player."
Another honest assessment: Johnson wasn't always so confident at Clemson. Mention mat drills to him and he still cringes a bit.
In the winter of 2013, he arrived on campus a 17-year-old early enrollee. He spent the night before winter conditioning puking, thanks to a stomach virus. He missed the first round of mat drills, a grueling set of conditioning exercises. "That's the one where they kind of take it easy on you," Johnson said, "to get acclimated."
He showed up the next day. By the third station, he was through.
"I really couldn't breathe, so I grabbed my hammy," Johnson said. "My hammy wasn't even hurt, but I was like, 'Ah! No! I can't go!' So I sat out that mat drill. That was one of my worst experiences."
Things didn't improve when spring practice began, as Johnson suffered a dislocated elbow. When he returned to the field, he lacked the same confidence. He saw a long road to a starting position in a talent-stocked Clemson defensive backfield.
"He thought he was going to come in and play a high level and start," said linebacker Ben Boulware, who had similar frustrations early in his career. "Every freshman coming in is going to think he's going to do that. He kind of exploded a little bit. Kind of freaked out."
Johnson seriously considered leaving Clemson. He could go home to Orangeburg, South Carolina, where he could easily suit up for South Carolina State, an FCS program right there in town.
"I was ready to pack my stuff and slide, man," Johnson said.
Johnson's conversations with head coach Dabo Swinney, defensive coordinator Brent Venables, family members and others like Jeff Davis, captain of Clemson's 1981 national championship team and the assistant athletic director for football player relations, helped keep him in Death Valley.
They told him to trust that his opportunity would come. When it did, it would be on him to capitalize.
"Man, it was hard, it was so hard," Johnson recalled. "Year after year, it was like, 'I haven't started yet?' But when I finally got my chance, I was so happy."
After logging 98 snaps in 11 games as a true freshman, Johnson developed into a capable reserve, recording two interceptions in both 2014 and 2015. No one really noticed, but that was OK. He used those early years to prepare for this one.
When three Clemson defensive backs left early for the NFL draft last January, including starting safeties Jayron Kearse and T.J. Green, Johnson's time had come. He refused to be the weak link on a defense with All-America candidates at all three levels.
"Coming into the season, a lot of people didn't know who I was," he said. "I was a big question mark."
He's now an exclamation point for Clemson, leading the team in interceptions with five. He ranks second in pass breakups (7) and fifth in tackles (54).
Clemson defensive backs coach Mike Reed considers Johnson a complete safety with unusual range to run, cover, catch interceptions and always find the ball. Reed sees similarities between Johnson and Ohio State's Malik Hooker, an All-American who Monday declared for the NFL draft, where he's projected as a first-round pick. "They're like freaks of nature," Reed said.
Two springs ago, Reed saw Johnson begin to blossom as a leader. Cornerback Cordrea Tankersley said Johnson understands every position in the secondary, and how he fits in. Johnson has become a strong motivator, and also knows when to lighten the mood.
"He just keeps everybody happy," Tankersley said. "He's just Jadar. Happy dude."
Johnson was noticeably happy at Clemson's media day before the Fiesta Bowl, even while absorbing several rounds of questions about his Barrett comments. He joked with reporters trying to bait him into hotter water, and admitted he didn't know what bulletin-board material was until he had inadvertently provided some to Ohio State.
The senior enjoyed himself in a situation that would make many hide or clam up. Perhaps he knew what was coming, too. "I'm just ready to play football," he said.
The national championship will mark Johnson's final game at Clemson. In recent weeks he has often reflected on where he started. Swinney doesn't let him forget, often reminding him that he could have ended up at South Carolina State.
"I think about it all the time, man," he said. "I don't know what I was thinking back then. I'm definitely glad I stuck it through."