After tearing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during the Alamo Bowl, redshirt junior and offensive lineman Tyler Johnstone is already looking to next season as spring football practice is underway. After the Ducks’ second spring practice Tuesday morning, the Emerald caught up with Johnstone as he spoke about his road to recovery and his spring break back home in Arizona.
Offensive coordinator Scott Frost said after the Alamo Bowl that you told him you would be back for the first game. Did you ever have any doubt?
“No, not at all. The only time I really doubted was when it happened and after halftime (in San Antonio). I talked to coach and I have been on track ever since, so I was never worried about coming back for this season.”
What was going on in your head when it first happened?
“The only thing I really thought about was now I can’t be doing as many squats in the offseason as I wanted to and that was the only thing I was really worried about. As soon as I got over the initial shock of it I started to look to things I could improve and make my knee better.”
How is spring practice going?
“It’s fun. I get to kind of take a step back and stand behind the coaches… I get to watch and see what’s going on and get a bunch of mental reps. I get to coach up the younger guys a little bit and that helps me learn my game and I realize watching other guys when the coaches mean when they are telling me to do something because I am the same ideas for these guys. I think it’s going to transfer over and I kinda understand the game a lot more. I think it’s going to be pretty good for me.”
Do you see yourself taking a bigger leadership role?
“Definitely. We graduated some pretty pertinent leaders on both sides of the ball. I am going to be an upperclassman this year, this is my fourth year in the program, so I am going to have some guys looking up to me to make some decisions and give them a voice towards the coaches or some direction on where they want to go or how they want to play.”
Is it weird not seeing some familiar faces at practice?
“Every year you kind of go through it. You lose your friends and you get guys going onto do bigger and better things. You respect it. When you watch those guys go they gave us such a good base to go off of how to lead and how to lead by example. We take what they have done and put it into our own leadership style. That’s what happens every spring, someone has to step up after these guys leave.”
Did you enjoy your spring break? Did you get to go home to Arizona?
“I went home. It’s Arizona. So that was my Cabo I guess. It was fun. I hung out with old high school friends and caught up with a lot of people and high school coaches. Worked out a couple of times. It was relaxing.”
Did you get your tan on?
“Oh yeah! I got a tan, got a couple of massages. Went to the chiropractor a few times. It was nice. It was really relaxing.”
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