Quinten Johnson, a safety for Michigan, said that “patience paid off” as the Wolverines won the championship thanks to clutch plays.
Many of the most memorable moments from Michigan football’s 2023 undefeated national championship-winning campaign were crafted by the team’s biggest players, including Blake Corum, J.J. McCarthy, and Mike Sainristil.
However, Quinten Johnson—a fifth-year safety who produced two of the biggest plays of the season when it mattered most—is indispensable to writing the story of U-M’s incredible run.
With a huge, clean hit late in the third quarter of Michigan’s victory over Ohio State, Johnson helped the Wolverines establish themselves as the superior, more physical team for the third consecutive season. Emeka Egbuka was kept off the ball. Additionally, Johnson snatched the ball away from Jalen Milroe during Alabama’s drive in the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl, ending the possession as Josh Wallace recovered the fumble. Alabama had a slim lead at the time.
It’s possible that Michigan doesn’t win the championship in Houston if those two instances—made by a graduate student who spent his first three years in Ann Arbor playing only on special teams—don’t occur.
However, Johnson persisted in attending Michigan and gained a spot in the rotation; as a result, the program and he were both rewarded.
It certainly paid off, he declared. “I am really appreciative. Being a Michigan Wolverine and a member of this group and program makes me incredibly proud. Something like this will always exist. This is something that will always endure, and ultimately, your perseverance paid off.
Johnson claims to have only watched the Ohio State play “a couple of times,” but he has seen the favorable comparisons to Marcus Ray’s hit on David Boston, which graced the cover of Sports Illustrated after The Game in 1997. Johnson recognizes the significance of it even though he wasn’t around for it.
