TCU’s Quentin Johnston put in the hard work – and it has paid off

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – TCU junior wide receiver Quentin Johnston may have 4.4 speed and hands the size of oven mitts, but he is humble and thoughtful, character traits not listed on the wideout prototype. Wide receivers are supposed to be brash, attention-chasing divas. It’s the position that Lady Gaga would play if she ran a better 40. It’s the position of Michael Irvin, Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco. Somehow, it’s also the position of Johnston.

It didn’t take him long to learn that the college football world will not bend to his desires. Take the reason Johnston chose TCU over Texas, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma – the longevity of the coaching staff. As it turned out, Johnston and the Horned Frogs didn’t blossom until after the departure of that coaching staff.

“When you put it like that, yeah,” Johnston said, laughing. “Obviously, change is good. We weren’t sure what kind of change it would be and how it would turn out. Obviously, it turned out good. Can’t complain about it.”

Maybe it’s another example of how the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Johnston has a talent for adjusting his route to beat whatever he’s up against. He made All-Big 12 for a second consecutive season, his first in the offense that Sonny Dykes and Garrett Riley brought to TCU. Johnston has caught 53 passes for 903 yards (18.1 yards per catch) and five touchdowns this season. He has caught the attention of ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay, who slots Johnston at the 13^th pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. As Johnston and No. 3 TCU prepare for No. 2 Michigan in a College Football Playoff semifinal Saturday, he chooses not to engage in the love expressed for his game.

“I can wake up Saturday morning and just stare at my name on the list,” said Johnston, his voice a foot deeper than the Mariana Trench. “We still got football to play. I’m obviously walking into the stadium like I’m the best receiver here, but I’m not fixing to get on social media like, ‘Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!’ Because you can get caught up in all that and forget about actually playing football.”

That Johnston, in the age of the transfer portal, stuck around is a testament to his determination not to see himself as the center of the universe.

“He’s kind of unique that way,” Riley said. “He’s just very driven. Comes from Temple, Texas, and how he was raised, all those things. He’s mature. He’s driven. He understands that he’s got to work. He’s not just going to rely on his God-given talent. He understands that.”

Johnston chose TCU to play for Gary Patterson and his veteran staff. While Dykes did retain wide receiver coach Malcolm Kelly – made him an assistant head coach, in fact – Johnston watched Patterson join the coaching staff at Texas, the same Texas that Patterson put a bullseye on for more than two decades.

Johnston had no desire to follow Patterson or reconnect with any of the schools that recruited him.

“As soon as they announced that (Coach Dykes and his staff) were coming, I was like, all right, I’m not going to come in with an attitude as soon as they come in,” Johnston said. “I was football-ready from Coach Dykes’ first meeting. I was in there, right up front just embracing everything and listening to what he had to say. I kept my mind on TCU football, not who’s coaching TCU football.”

Some of his teammates needed more convincing. When players missed a total of 37 workouts last winter, Dykes wondered if he would get a full buy-in.

“You want to start a championship run by winning game one,” Johnston said. “So if you want to win game one, come to practice. Why are you not at practice? Why are you not working out? You think you’re just going to show up and play against grown men that got families to feed and people to get money for and just beat them? Nothing works out like that.

“The few people that were just BSing around finally thought, ‘OK, maybe he is right.’ Yeah, you are trippin’. Let’s go to work. We got games to win. After the first few weeks, people bought in rather quickly.”

Riley looked around the meeting room at the Camelback Inn where the news conferences are being held. Speaking alongside him Wednesday were Johnston, All-America guard Steve Avila, Heisman Trophy runner-up quarterback Max Duggan, All-Big 12 running back Kendre Miller and wide receiver Taye Barber.

“Five of our best players are here today, and they are five of our best kids,” Riley said. “That’s what’s so unique about our situation here at TCU right now, seriously. A lot of our best players are really, really good kids. It’s not like I’ve been coaching forever” – Riley is 33 – “but I’ve been coaching long enough that this is one of the first times that (I’ve) been in that situation. We just have a lot of really good players that are excellent kids – great students, off the field no issues, all those things. It’s very unique in college football.”

TCU is the underdog Saturday. Michigan has more talent. TCU plays hard, plays together and doesn’t beat itself. The only thing the Horned Frogs are missing is a prima donna.