Korey Johnson didn’t opt for a change of scenery. He just decided to change the way he sees things.

“I feel like earlier on in my career, I was focused on more so what the team could do for me,” said the Air Force junior cornerback, who used the word “team” 18 times while meeting with media for 11 minutes Tuesday. “Now, I look at it, ‘What can I do for the team?’”

As you can probably sense, Johnson spoke from a place of vulnerability and honesty. So we’ll turn it over to his words – more impactful than I can offer – in a moment.

Let me just preface this with a few thoughts.

First, if you’re looking for a player to root for this college football season, I would highly recommend this one.

Second, Johnson’s story isn’t one you’ll frequently find in college athletics – or society in general – anymore. He’s a confident, talented and intelligent player who opened the first six games of his sophomore season as the starter. Then he was demoted. As he sat, the defense drastically improved.

Because he wasn’t yet a junior, the door was open to depart. The vast majority of college players would have found the closest exit. The second half of the season showed Air Force football didn’t need him. And Johnson, from a high-achieving family where two older siblings have gone on to success without traveling the military route, had to know other viable alternatives existed for him. In short, he didn’t need Air Force.

Here’s where his story takes its chill-inducing turn. Johnson didn’t depart. He stuck with his commitment. He leaned into the challenge. He understood that the sophomoric sophomore version of himself wasn’t good enough. In a microwave world, he threw himself into the slow cooker to make the inside-out adjustments that he knew were necessary. He was shown his shortcomings and set out to attack them.

He decided he not only needed Air Force, but he needed to turn himself into someone Air Force would need in return.

Spoiler alert: The depth chart shows Johnson will be running out with the starters once again when the Falcons open the season on Saturday.

Here are excerpts from my conversation with Johnson earlier this week.

Q: In college football these days, you don’t see a story like yours very often – a guy who is a starter, loses that role and then sticks around to earn it back. What kind of pride do you feel in putting yourself in this position?

A: I’m so thankful that I’m in a position where I’m at this academy, because it truly focuses you on personal growth. You’re challenged every single day, whether it’s with your classes or military aspect, but athletics as well.

When you’re challenging yourself to come down here every single day and do something that’s optional, because that’s a big difference between us and a lot of D1 programs – this is truly an optional thing to be a cadet, (intercollegiate) athlete. So every day that you’re down here, like it’s just an attitude of gratitude that you have to have.

So I’m just thankful for the coaches. They gave me the opportunity. I kept working. I’m proud that I was able to show them the abilities that I have, that they can trust me enough to be out there again. I’m so happy that I get to prove it every single week, every single snap that I’m playing.

Q: Did you have a low point last year or during the offseason?

A: I think the lowest point I had was after the UNLV game (when Air Force lost 51-48 and Johnson was flagged for a 15-yard personal foul). I had a really rough game. You’re going to have rough games, but after that game is when I got dropped out of the starting lineup. … That kind of just helped me focus more on seeing that my performance needs to be more team focused instead of on personal things.

A guy who’s doing his job every single play is the guy that the team needs. So that’s what I want to be for the team.

Q: As a D1 athlete, it’s safe to assume you had dominated every level before that. What was that like to accept that what you were doing was no longer getting it done?

A: Internally, that really just made me reflect. I was seeing the mistakes that I was making, but I wasn’t valuing how negative they truly were on the team. So, as I was reflecting back and seeing that and seeing like the positive aspects that I needed to increase in my game, it just truly showed me I just need to be playing a bit better, a bit faster, a bit more consistent. More than anything else, that would just help me earn my place back and then thankfully I’ve been able to do that.

Q: As you turn a page now, it sounds like you’re internally a different player. How excited are you to have two years of football ahead of you now as this version of yourself?

A: Oh, I’m ecstatic. A lot of programs, you’re not going to be given a chance to develop this much. This is a place like, you truly had a chance to develop yourself as a person and then as an athlete as well. That just kind of doubles it up. So now you just take that summation of knowledge that you have and you just apply it to every single game, every competition that you’re facing.