Oregon senior wide receiver Juwan Johnson is starting to peak at the right time and could end up being the missing piece the Ducks needed to capture their first conference title since 2014.

Johnson (6 feet 4, 231 pounds) has become the team’s go-to target over the past two games. He had 12 receptions for 199 yards and four touchdowns in wins against USC and Arizona for the No. 6 Ducks (9-1 overall, 7-0 in the Pac-12).

Big things were expected from Johnson when Oregon added him as a grad transfer from Penn State in the spring. Unfortunately, a calf injury sidelined him for UO’s first four games and he was used sparingly in the first three games after his return.

Now, he’s simply going off on opposing defenses. Johnson had four catches for 64 yards in a 37-35 win against Washington State on Oct. 26, then followed up with seven receptions for 106 yards and three touchdowns during a 56-24 drubbing of USC in Los Angeles on Nov. 2. Saturday, Johnson caught five passes for 93 yards and a touchdown during a 34-6 rout of Arizona at Autzen Stadium.

Johnson’s size adds another dimension to Oregon’s passing game that features Jaylon Redd, who is 5-8, and Johnny Johnson III, listed at 6-0.

On one hand, it’s a shame Juwan Johnson hasn’t been healthy all season; he could be nearing 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns by now. On the other, he’s back to 100 percent at the right time and could be just the weapon UO needs to close out the regular season and get past No. 7 Utah (9-1, 6-1) in the Pac-12 title game and into the College Football Playoff.

Here is a look at some of Johnson’s best plays and what makes him a special weapon for quarterback Justin Herbert and Oregon.

Johnson made his first reception against USC late in the first quarter on a deep out for 17 yards. In the second quarter, he had receptions of 14 and 3 yards on back-to-back plays to help set up Herbert’s 10-yard run to trim the Ducks’ deficit to 10-7.

On his fourth reception, Johnson showed off his football IQ on a play that almost resulted in a touchdown. Here, the Ducks appear to be set to run the ball or it’s an RPO in which Herbert has the option of throwing the swing to Travis Dye to the right. The linemen certainly run block and the receivers to the bottom of the screen also block.

Regardless, notice how before the snap Johnson points to the cornerback to alert Herbert that the defender is about to blitz. Herbert sees Johnson’s gesture and the cornerback’s obvious tell that he’s coming. Herbert still carries out the fake to C.J. Verdell before making a quick pass to Johnson, who wisely backpedals at an angle toward the sideline to create more distance from the charging safety.

The safety reaches Johnson in time but was a bit overzealous and doesn’t break down before the receiver jukes to the inside. The defensive back recovers enough to get his hands on Johnson, who demonstrates his power by running through the safety to pick up extra yards before being taken down with the help of a linebacker at the 1 for a 9-yard gain.

Wide receiver Jaylon Redd finished off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Ducks a 14-10 lead.

In the third quarter, Oregon ran a similar RPO from USC’s 15. This time, Herbert faked to Dye going left to right, with Redd as the slot on the right running a flat route.

But Herbert is going to Johnson all the way. Johnson, the single receiver to the left on the numbers with a wing inside, is met with bump-and-run coverage by the cornerback. USC is in man coverage across the board with a single high safety who is playing in the middle of the field.

This is bad news for USC. What’s fascinating is that the Trojans ran man coverage but didn’t blitz. The play fake moves the linebackers to their left and the safety also takes a couple of steps to his left. That gives Johnson more room to work the cornerback, who is about to get cooked.

Now, I’m not on USC’s coaching staff, but the cardinal rule of playing man coverage is not to get beaten inside unless you have help in there. Otherwise, you take away the inside and force the receiver to go outside; a fade or back-shoulder fade is a tougher pass to complete because the ball must go over the head of the defensive back (especially on the fade), and the sideline can become a factor. If a defensive back allows the receiver to get a clean release inside with no help, it’s lights out.

Johnson didn’t even give a great move, but it was enough to cause the defensive back to take a step outside with his right foot and open his hips, essentially inviting Johnson to dart inside on the slant. That’s exactly what he does. Herbert delivers the strike for a relatively easy touchdown to put the Ducks up 35-17.

As it turned out, Johnson really liked that end of the field. Minutes later, Oregon found itself in the red zone once again, and once again Herbert went to Johnson.

Johnson is again the single receiver, this time with no wing inside. For whatever reason, the Trojans again go with man coverage with a single safety in the middle of the field and a cornerback playing bump coverage on Johnson.

But unlike last time, Johnson is lined up inside the numbers with the ball on the right hash. This affords Johnson more room to work to the outside if he wants to run a fade. But because the ball is on the right hash and he is between the left hash and the numbers, Johnson also could work the middle of the field without much fear of the safety because he’s close to the right hash. Why USC thought this would be a good coverage to run against this look is a mystery given what happened last time.

This time around, Johnson gives more of a move than he did last time. He takes five quick steps to create the illusion to the backpedaling cornerback that he might go inside rather than run a fade. The final step is a jab step inside that forces the corner inside just a tad. The multiple steps also give Herbert time to get the snap and carry out his fake. A fatal flaw on fade routes is to commit to the fade too early, which allows the defensive back time to recover before the ball arrives. In a perfect world, the ball already will be in the air before the receiver turns to look for it, as is the case here.

The cornerback has much better coverage than he did on the slant, and this forces Herbert to demonstrate touch in putting the ball where only Johnson can get it. Johnson demonstrates amazing body control by jumping and turning his inside shoulder to the outside to open up to the ball as he is falling backward.

Note Johnny Johnson III at the bottom of the screen pointing toward Johnson as if knew right away that the ball would be going there for a touchdown. He was correct. Ducks 42, USC 17.

Johnson struck again in the fourth quarter for a 37-yard touchdown to put Oregon up 49-17. To be honest, there is no way Johnson should have scored on this play. He did some nice things, but this is some bad secondary play that reminds me of the 2015 Oregon secondary that Cooper Kupp carved up.

Johnson is the single receiver to the left. Herbert play-fakes as Johnson goes downfield. Now, it’s tough to know exactly what Johnson did here to get open because this is the TV clip and not the all-22, but it appears that he simply ran slightly inside, then pushed back to the outside.

Herbert hits a wide-open Johnson with a perfect pass at USC’s 25, and he is off to the races. First off, linebacker Ralen Goforth appears to want nothing to do with tackling Johnson and doesn’t attack him with the aggression of a linebacker. Johnson dips away from Goforth and cuts toward the end zone past another defender and encounters two more inside the 5. They practically olé him into the end zone. Props to Johnson for making some open-field moves and putting his head down to barrel into the end zone, but that was some embarrassing defense.

Next up is a big play from Saturday’s win against Arizona. Here, the Ducks run a bunch set to the right with Johnson all alone to the left along the numbers.

Arizona is in two-deep zone (based on what we can see in this video), but the corner on Johnson’s side retreats since there is only one receiver to his side of the field. That leads to Johnny Johnson III coming wide open to that side of the field after running a shallow cross from the outside receiver spot in the bunch set.

But Herbert only has eyes for Juwan Johnson on this play. The corner at first played shallow and Johnson undoubtedly noticed the two high safeties. Johnson stems his route inside of the corner, pushes back vertical to attack the safety, then cuts to the outside on a corner route. Chances are that this was a route adjustment unless the Ducks anticipated this coverage and called this play specifically to beat it. Either way, Johnson runs the route perfectly, is wide open and Herbert hits him with a perfect pass for a gain of 27.

We move now to the second quarter with Oregon operating at its 23. Johnson, for the first time in this breakdown, has two other receivers to his side of the formation, with him as the No. 1 at the bottom of the screen.

This time, Johnson has a dig route, but he receives press coverage while a defender sits over Redd, the No. 2 receiver. Watch how Redd sacrifices himself by pushing inside to draw his defender away from the dig route. Redd gets jammed up a bit, but he’s ultimately done his job.

The wing, who appeared to be Spencer Webb, runs a flat route and draws a linebacker with him. Those two routes leave a huge void inside that Johnson will exploit. But first he must work his way open.

It’s tough to see in this video, but Johnson did a good job of pushing to the outside of the cornerback as if he was going deep. He doesn’t rush getting inside because he has to allow the other routes to do their job and for Herbert to get the snap, drop and get his feet set. Timing is everything on a dig route.

Once Johnson reaches his desired depth (again, it’s tough to see), he plants and fights his way underneath the cornerback so he can cut inside to get in that huge hole in the defense. The coverage is solid, but Johnson has position, presents a big target, Herbert throws a good ball and it’s a 13-yard gain and a first down for the Ducks.

There isn’t much to break down on this final play, but it’s still a thing of beauty. The Ducks run a reverse flea-flicker in which Johnson pretends to block the cornerback at the bottom of the screen, then takes off downfield. Herbert delivered a nice throw that leads Johnson perfectly; the throw might have been difficult for any other receiver on the team to get to without Johnson’s height and reach.

Johnson maintains his stride and speed by pumping his arms until the last second, then reaches out, grabs the ball and stumbles into the end zone to give the Ducks their third touchdown of the game.

In two games, we see Johnson work his magic in the red zone on a slant, fade and essentially a quick hitch versus a corner blitz. We saw him run precise routes on a corner and a dig, we saw him move in the open field and we saw him take part in a little trickeration.

Only the Ducks know what we might see from Johnson in the coming weeks, but it’s safe to say that most of it will be impressive to watch.

(Top photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)