This al.kum piece I copped-n-pasta'd from a couple of days ago, in one sense verifies what a lot of us have thought. We may still be shitty, but we do have better players than we showed on the field the past two seasons. As I've said many times, all those high recruiting rankings can't be wrong. I'm definitely not saying we're going to contend for the West this year and we obviously have deficiencies in several areas. But Johnson is a guy who has been there/done that and he's basically saying he's got more to work with here than he's had at other stops. At least more to start out with and build on. Very encouraging to me....
DECATUR, Alabama -- Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson wants to make one thing clear about the defense he inherited this spring.
"The first thing is," says the first-year Auburn coordinator, "I don't think they played as bad as the record. They were a lot better than a three-win team."
Auburn's defensive struggles in 2012 under former coordinator Brian VanGorder have been well-documented -- before and after Johnson's arrival on the Plains, where the veteran coordinator takes over an SEC defense for the fourth time in his career.
The Tigers' defense finished at or near the bottom of every major statistical category in the SEC, ranking 79th nationally in total defense while allowing 420.5 yards per game (second-to-last in the SEC).
Johnson exits the spring with a relatively healthy roster, including plenty of returning starters and players with experience as starters. Some of the rebuilding project, which began in earnest this spring with the installation of the 4-2-5 scheme, has more to do with attitude and psychology than technique and football knowledge.
Johnson has repeatedly said that the Tigers are starting with a blank slate. Past performances, coach Gus Malzahn has also repeated, do not dictate the future.
First-year Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, in a wide-ranging interview with reporters before an alumni event in Decatur, hits on why his defense will be much better than the version in 2012 and why Mobile is an important recruiting area for the Tigers. (Brandon Marcello/bmarcello@al.com) "A lot of things, I think, caved in on them," Johnson said of the 2012 Auburn defense. "Maybe the close loss to LSU and the open date; the players said they seemed to have lost a little bit of their stinger, if you will, the leadership wasn't as good as it should have been. Then you hit that tough slate of the SEC and I think it snow-balled on them.
"There were things that needed to be addressed. I think coach Malzahn let them know real soon that it's a new day. ... We made it clear to them it's going to be a new standard and I think the reception has been good, the attitude has been good, the work habits have been good. We made a lot of progress."
Johnson's work at South Carolina is what fans hope to see Auburn replicate in 2013. Johnson's defenses ranked in the top 15 nationally in three of the four years he called plays as the Gamecocks' coordinator. His first defense in 2008 ranked 13th (291.92 yards per game), a drastic improvement from the previous season, when the Gamecocks allowed 378.1 yards and finished 56th in the country.
"A lot of things, I think, caved in on them," Ellis Johnson said of the Auburn defense in 2012.
Simply put, Johnson has done this before at Alabama, Mississippi State and South Carolina. Johnson also says that this defense at Auburn is better suited for a turnaround season than his other first-year projects, including the big turnaround under head coach Steve Spurrier at South Carolina.
"As a complete roster and depth chart there are more really good, solid SEC players on this defensive unit than were at either one of those two places I was at, especially the first year," Johnson said, pointing to stops at MSU and South Carolina. "The thing that we’re really trying to identify is some guys who can make those impact plays in the course of the game."
Defensive end Dee Ford, who locked up a starting job on the left side this spring, is close to becoming one of Johnson's impact players. The same can be said for Justin Garrett, who plays the safety hybrid -- the "Star" -- in Johnson's 4-2-5 scheme.
The lack of tackles for loss, sacks and pressures on the quarterback led to a disappointing turnover margin in 2012, Johnson says. The Tigers picked off only two passes and finished 106th nationally (13th in the SEC) in turnover margin.
"That’s something we’re working very hard on," Johnson says. "But as a total depth chart I’m satisfied. We can be a very solid unit next year."
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