Long after his teammates left the field, Jeremy Johnson threw his hands up in the air as he sprinted toward the sea of orange and blue in a corner of Kyle Field.
The resurrected Johnson — left in the dust after being benched following his disastrous performance at LSU — leapt for joy, his arms moving like someone who just had the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders.
He led Auburn to a 26-10 throttling of Texas A&M, a game where the results didn’t accurately reflect the difference between the Tigers and Aggies Saturday night.
Johnson took the majority of reps throughout the week in practice filling in for Sean White, who still had lingering effects from a knee injury he suffered against Arkansas.
And from the first snap on, Johnson looked like the antithesis of the player who threw six interceptions in three games to open the season.
“I think it says a lot about his character,” said coach Gus Malzahn. “He went through a storm earlier and kept working ... To perform on the road in this environment the way he did says a lot about him. I’m very proud of him.”
He finished 13-17 for 132 yards and a touchdown, effortlessly orchestrating the offense which racked up 443 yards, over 300 of which came on the ground.
Johnson was aided by another resurgent player, Jovon Robinson, who led the game in rushing for the second week in a row. Robinson toted the rock 27 times for 159 yards and a touchdown, and he’s emerged as the hot hand in Malzahn’s stable of running backs.
“You know man, I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time,” Robinson said. “When they gave me the ball, I was like, ‘Finally, I can release my inner beast.’ I had fun, and I guess that’s my goal at the end of the day, to have fun.”
The defense, which had been scrutinized and dissected for most of the season, turned in its best performance in over a year. The Tigers (5-4, 2-4) gave up only 303 yards, the lowest output surrendered since they held LSU to 280 yards in October of 2014.
Kyler Murray, the freshman quarterback for Texas A&M (6-3, 3-3) who made his second start Saturday, was pressured into three interceptions, and left the game in the third quarter with an injury.
His running ability, which was one of the things Malzahn was stressed about leading up to the game, was for the most part held in check. Murray scrambled eight times for only 37 yards, as the rejuvenated Auburn front seven, led by Carl Lawson, consistently corralled him.
But the biggest story of the game was Jeremy Johnson, who, for all his struggles at the beginning of the year, looked reborn.
And according to him, the thing that bogged him down was simple.
“Just having fun,” Johnson said. “That was the biggest thing I was missing at the beginning of the season, just having fun. I was just too uptight, and just having fun and keeping a smile on my face made things better.”
He certainly seemed to be having fun. As the third quarter ended, Johnson darted to the opposite end of the stadium, bouncing down the field as he yelled into the maroon crowd at Kyle Field.
Those fans, 104,625 strong, provided freshman Carlton Davis--who pulled down the first of Auburn’s three interceptions--all the satisfaction he needed after helping Auburn get one step closer to being bowl-eligible.
“It’s amazing,” Davis said. “Just seeing the fans clear the stadium, it’s a wonderful feeling. Wonderful.”
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