Coach's Corner with Ellis Johnson: Alabama A&M week

here of the Auburn undercover podcast on the 247 Sports Network my name is Nathan King and we are happy to be joined once again this season on Coach's Corner every Wednesday with former Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson Ellis how did your uh how did your summer treat you and how much are you looking forward to the season well I got about six months older which is not good but other than that it was a good summer uh hot as you know what like everybody else but I have been more than ready for football season to come back on I don't think I watched a single Olympic event and uh had just about enough of basketball and I've been praying for this football season to get going again on TV and uh last weekend was some pretty good football to kick it off and uh got some good games coming up this weekend for sec I think a lot of people are in that same boat with you looking forward to uh looking forward to finally getting some real football on the TV like you said you know we already got a little bit of it a little taste of it Georgia Tech pulled that big upset in uh in week one let's talk a little bit before we uh before we get into Auburn's first game Ellis about uh you know them turning over defensive coordinators again you and I were talking before we got rolling I think you and I and a lot of people agreed that Ron Roberts did a good job with this defense we were recording this show you know October early November of last year talking about how that defense was keeping them in games doing a good job um just seems like things really kind of weren't working out toward the end um and then they go and hire DJ Durkin a guy who is now in his third straight SEC stop he was at Old Miss and then at Texas A&M um just sort of talk about your thoughts about kind of their defense overall last year and and your opinions of Durkin as a coach if if you know him well you you summed it up pretty well I thought through the first half of the year they really had to just lean on their defense it were keeping them in games and I I saw where they finished the season sort in the middle of the conference and not very not very good statistic ially but you have to say now their defense was really the the strongest point on their football team for about the first five to eight games uh the Finish was not good and you know the last play of the Alabama game was a heartbreaker because what a huge chance for a great upset and they had played well enough during the whole game to have that shot and I ha to see it in that way for him but uh you know durkin's a really good football coach and I think you know sometimes they Chang is based on things that aren't necessarily the play on the field just you know the actual statistical accomplishment and all that it could be a lot of other factors involved in it but I think you know I don't know uh how it will turn out but I know DJ is a heck of football coach uh the biggest thing will be if they replace some of those players in recruiting and in and in the portal in your coaching career this is sort of a very basic question but what are sort of the the main challenges I'm sure we talked about this last year when Ron Roberts took over but the main challenges of getting to a new program seeing a new defense um and implementing your scheme over the course of a spring and and a preseason yeah that that's hard and a lot of it depends upon the how well the staff comes together you know because if you got if you got factions or you disjointed or someone's just not on the same page uh for whatever reason that's going to filter down into the players so the first step is you got to make sure all the coaches are on the same page whether you're complicated or not complicated and all the little cliches that people like to talk about uh defenses in my opinion you know it's not what you run it's when you run it and I think that most of them are about the same everybody's multiple they can say they're a 42 they can say they're a 34 they can say all these things but everybody's multiple and everybody's got blitzes and everybody's got different coverages Etc but you have to have everybody on the same page when you're speaking in terms of all the new people but Nathan one of the things that's true of college football today whether you even have coaching changes or not you got all this portal and nil transfer stuff going on and so your football teams now are normally pretty much shaking up every season uh you know you're bringing in 30 to 45 new faces every every year on a football team and I think that it sort of downplays the importance of the coaches changes because whether you have a coaching change or not it's like a new bunch of players out there and you got to almost start from scratch a lot of them are not even there in the spring so it really is a challenge but you know it's it's everybody's in the same boat so I think that one of the biggest factors in college football today is if you have a returning starting quarterback who was productive you got a heck of a chance of having a good start to your season we can pivot there and talk for a minute about pton Thorne um at quarterback for Auburn because um you know productive was not the best you know way to describe him at times last season obviously they did that rotation and shuffle for a while and then they sort of ended on him at the end of the season and then we get to the off season and freeze decides you know and look they kicked the tires on some transfers you know just despite how much they maybe don't want to admit that um but they end up rolling with pton Thorne into a into a second season as a starter LSC is a sixth year senior quarterback he has played a lot of football um freeze has been adamant that the staff changes he's made getting a more familiar quarterback coach getting a more familiar offensive coordinator and obviously those upgrades they got at wide receiver he has been adamant all of these things can work together to make a really good season for pton Thorne certainly better than last year I guess how much of of a jump and what are the aspects that you see as being necessary getting a quarterback who was on the same team but trying to surround him and insulate him with better personnel and and and better play calling I guess how can you sort of see that jump for him this season yeah well there are a lot of things that you already covered that went on from the last game to this season as far as a roster as far as trying to maybe try to find somebody in the portal they could come in and you know light a fire in your offense but the main thing that occurred I read if it's correct is that Hugh wants to get back involved directly in play calling Andor game planning and I think that's important uh you know having coach for a guy like Steve spia for example when you start turning that over to other people and you've been doing it yourself for 15 or 20 years and doing it pretty dog on well it doesn't normally go well because even even if you're trying not to you're going to end up second guessing you can't help it I mean you're one of the best in the business and I I put Hugh in that category I think he's one of the better play callers in the SEC and and to delegate it to a different coordinator and and Philip was an experienced coordinator much more so than Derek but Derek has been with h before and I think he knows more what he wants and he can handle that room in the game planning but I think that you're going to see who free call and plays and I think that's you know that's going to make it probably an easier transition and you mentioned about the quarterback and and it was at times it was a rotation they didn't know who their quarterback was last year at Early times in the year but if he's comfortable with with pton Thorne and of course he's been in it with him a year I I think it'll all end up probably working out okay as opposed to bringing in a transfer unless he could have gotten one of the best out there on the you know on The Chopping Block I don't I don't see how it would have helped them to bring some body else in so I think they're going to be better on offense simply because he's taking more control of it and it will be more what he wants and what he believes in doesn't mean somebody else did it wrong but they do it differently and that is hard to sit there play after play and and you say well well we should have run this or we should have run that and you don't want to start uh meddling in the play calling too much and you get them all off track and so I I think it's going to be a good change for them and I think the main thing is who calling the play these these freshman wide receivers for them have been obviously probably the biggest talking point of the entire offseason how this passing game is going to get better but on DJ durkin's defense this season lots of really talented freshmen they were able to bring in I guess from a from a game planning you know blueprint perspective for your defense just how much does that change things as a coach when your third or fourth guy at linebacker or your third or fourth guy at a defensive end you know instead of being a guy that is just a rotational piece maybe you're not as confident is all of a sudden this five star high four star you know really talented freshman I guess how does that sort of change your your game planning perspective as a as a defensive coach I don't know how much it'll affect the game planning I I think that will depend upon just how Dynamic some of those guys are will they have certain things they can schemes they could Concepts they could come up with to highlight a guy as a abilities and although they may not be a a starter consistently they can come in on third down and be an impact player uh I don't know him well enough to to be able to judge that uh but I do think that one thing that with depth I mean you can't ever downplay the importance of quality depth and uh Brad Lo who used to coach our defensive lineman at Carolina when we were together he used to really try to rotate guys even if they weren't as good as the guy he wanted to get him rotated early and he said if you ever lose one a big guy if you lose him physically during the course of a college football game it is hard to get him back that day in other words if you you know if you get a a great wide receiver runs a nine route and takes takes one 85 or 90 yards he just needs to go over there and get him a glass juice and take a break and come back out the next series he runs another nine route well big Li big guys don't don't work that way and if you've got depth and you can rotate guys early you'll see some of those starters make big plays late in the game so that's where it's going to help I I don't know it's going to change his game plan I just don't know the Personnel that well but as far as having depth you can trust that is a huge asset course on either side of the ball but we always felt like on defense especially in the front that was a huge huge Factor yeah I mean that that brings me to topic I really wanted to talk to you about and that is this defensive line for them um they lose a couple guys to the NFL mainly Marcus Harris was their best player and L at least for me when I when I go back and look at the snap counts of the last couple years you know guys like Marcus Harris I he played almost 600 snaps last year and then you look at the drop down no one else is really close this year they bring in four four power four transfers um I just don't know how much of a difference there is between these guys I don't know if one of them is a superstar one of them is you know kind of lower down the depth I really don't I think they're all pretty similar um my point is talking to Durkin and talking to the defensive players you mentioned the rotation they have been adamant that they want to rotate seven maybe eight defensive linemen and and I truthfully think they can because you know there's a true freshman named Malik blockton in there who has proven himself since the bowl game um there's a guy who comes over Texas A&M Isaiah Rees with DJ Durkin very familiar with that system um I guess just what are like you already kind of mentioned the benefits of of doing that on a defensive line but in the modern sec how successful do you think that can be because it definitely seems like their their approach this year is going to be more of a by committee let's get as many guys in the game as possible and keep them fresh because I don't I don't think they necessarily have a superstar along that defensive line at least not yet yeah I mean and there pluses and minuses in what you're saying if if all of them are average it it will still help to rotate but if they're all average they're going to play average uh but if you've got young guys that you you can trust to come in early in the game and take those starters off the field for two series or maybe just one series uh you know if you take a defensive lineman off the field for one series that's probably 15 minutes of time on the clock on a on a on a wristwatch because he's out that series plus he's out while the offense is out there and so I mean that can be a huge recuperation thing for a 280 to 315b guy and so if they're able to do that that is nothing but a plus it's a huge plus and it's not that unusual uh when you got NFL draft picks uh all in your lineup and you you you coming out with a lineup you know highlighting these guys you may not realize that they take them off the field you know two three plays here or there but most everybody's doing that to try to keep them from getting tired now if you go out and dominate on defense and you're three and out four and out three and out three and out four and out those guys aren't getting tired you know they're getting themselves off the field but if you have a 12pl series or or even a 15 playay drive on you and uh you know you have to even rotate within the series that depth is crucial I mean it's going to make the difference in the third and fourth quarter one of the things that Durkin has talked about so much this preseason is I think aubert has a chance to be a little bit better rushing the passer this season Jayla McLoud last year was there was their top sack getter um but he admitted he wasn't even fully healthy until November and his pitch count was just way too high that's what free said he just playing way too many snaps he's playing it on a bad ankle they get kieron Crawford a transfer to kind of spell him and we already mentioned the depth a couple true freshmen who can maybe get in there um I guess just the that you think that a better pass rush for this Auburn team um can make because while they were they were pretty good at times last season um like I mentioned Jaylen McLoud couldn't really do it he couldn't do it all himself um calri Faulk was still just a true freshman there at defensive end and now it seems like they brought in pieces to where he can be on a pitch count be used more situationally in third Downs Kon Crawford can sort of take that load off of his shoulders it's just how important is it to have a guy like that to say you don't have to play as many snaps you're not going to play you know 80% of the game we're just going to put you in there and try to be um try to be more explosive as a pass rusher absolutely and one of the things as we've been talking you know the Personnel a heck of a lot better than I do but the thing I keep hearing and I think is very important is when they went into the portal they they they fixed some needs they had in numbers and not just bringing in about 10 or six or eight flashy players uh they fix some things in the in their depth chart that a lot of people didn't even notice and that's very important and I think that when you're talking about a kid that's Dynamic and could be a big factor and and a guy that can you know get your turnovers get your negative yardage plays and do those kind of things if you got somebody can rotate with him a little bit and keep him playing to 100% it's just going to help him that much more and as another team other other team gets a little more fatigued and you can keep him fresh you're going to get those big plays in the late parts of the game which becomes absolutely critical if you're gonna win in the SEC wanted to ask about you know these these freshman cam Coleman freshman wide receiver um is obviously the one that has drawn so many headlines he's been spectacular since he got here but just you know when you when you were coaching and and getting a guy on campus all right he's got high expectations for for himself and there's the outside expectations as well um what is sort of the balance you have to strike with a guy like that trying not to put a bunch of pressure on an 18-year-old while at the same time saying whether he's a receiver or you know linebacker whatever while at the same time saying hey we need you know this guy can help us win games like he's got to be on the field how how do you as a coach you know in in the conversations you have with a young player like that try to strike a balance of understanding they're a young player but at the same time they're probably going to be a pretty spectacular player that you know that's one of the best questions and I get asked about those kind of things all the time and and I think one reason a lot of that's come up is that recruiting today more so than 30 40 years ago when I first got into business recruiting and signing date and all that is so much more hyped up uh it's it's almost like a a 15th game on a schedule the fan base is watching and recruiting class that's good and colleges hype it up because it it you know it's it's getting your fan base involved nothing wrong with it but when you do that you actually create these expectations in your fan base and you create these expectations with your comments about them when you sign them or or you bring them in in the portal and and not wrongly so I mean you should be talking about their pretty dog on good because you wanted them and you got them if you didn't want them you know you wouldn't be bragging on them so it it's just a natural thing there and and what you're saying is so important that you have a rapport with that kid that you can also sit down with him one onone and explain to him this isn't going to be easy and we're not going to put a lot of pressure on you in certain ways but you're going to get scrutinized and you're going to get pressure from different places and you got to learn how to handle it now as a coach you got to learn how to handle it too because they're going to make mistakes or one day you're going to you're going to put the depth chart and they're going to say well why isn't cam Coleman starting you told us he was better than a sliced bread and they don't understand that it's hard to come in here and beat out a 20 year- old who's said you know caught about 20 balls 30 balls last year he just ahead of him I remember when we got Clowny at South Carolina this is a college this was a college program has won one Conference Championship in the existence of the whole program and Clowny was considered and a lot of times still is considered by all these recruiting services to have been the best overall number one recruit in the history of just keeping up with it he didn't start when he first came in we had some really good players at that position and he couldn't beat him out but he played a lot and we used him in a way that made him a better player and he we handle it the right way Brad you know handle it the way he didn't get frustrated or disappointed or anything cuz he was making his plays he'd play 15 plays in a game H had five five of them would either be negative yardage or sacks or something and it's very similar to that I don't know what Cam's going to be and I don't think anybody can tell what he's going to be in detail but obviously know he's a great player and he's going to get his plays if you can keep him from getting frustrated and make sure that his expectations remain high but his frustrations don't remain high and it is it is hard and uh it's always been hard but like I said I really think it's harder now with the amount of of scrutiny and social media and even what we're doing right now there's so much attention on these kids that your fan Bas they can't wait to see them and they come to the stadium and they don't see them as much as they thought they would and they start asking questions so it can be a delicate process but if he's a good enough player and you use him the right ways you know he'll start making those plays the confidence will grow the maturity will come and uh you know we'll probably talk about some of this later but they've got a schedule that if they play well and play to their abilities they're GNA play a ton of players in those first three or four games and that'll bring them along too yeah talk a little bit about javian Clowney and just how that how that recruiting process I mean what were those two years you know I I imagine sort of ballpark two years for you and that defensive staff trying to lock him down as like you said potentially the most anticipated recruit ever well uh Corner named Stefon Gilmore who was also a first round pick and Stefon had was a high school teammate of his he was two years ahead of jvon and when I first got to South Carolina he was he was he was in his last year there I had coached in high school in that area uh Rock Hill area I coached at two high schools we been there at conferences and uh knew a lot of the coaches and had that recruiting area and that helped a little bit and had some folks in the school administration that I had met way back they were no longer coaching but they were uh still around anyhow Stefon was like the little Jim Thorp of Rock Hill he'd run through the little leagues he had run through the junior highs he ran through the high schools he was absolute just an icon you know with those guys and when we got him we pretty much owned Rock Hill the rest of the way and we lost maybe three players in four years up there that played powerful football and we signed about 12 that ended up being impact and they weren't as big impact as those two kids but they were really good players that made plays and uh were weren't just team members but uh Jade Devon I think he want to stay close to home and hopefully because it's family could see him play but it was difficult because obviously everybody in the country wanted him and and I think that he had family members that even though they wanted to be able to see him play they at times wanted him to go to another school that had more accomplishments more championships more tradition if you will so it was hard it was very difficult but having signed Gilmore and Devonte Hollman in that same same year those two guys helped us so much we got three more guys out of that school within the next two years and then we also signed a couple more over at their rival School uh Northwestern and that that was really to me the biggest Factor was when we got Gilmore it put us in a path to you know to have a lot more uh success and little more uh input up there with some of those kids yeah I think a lot of people thought cam Coleman was somebody who wanted to stay home as well and then he commits to Texas A&M sort of out of the blue and it all just became a perfect storm for Auburn when obviously Jimbo gets fired but I think even if Jimbo hadn't gotten fired the feeling we had was that they I don't know if they would have landed him but they definitely were going to push for him all the way to the end um guy 20 minutes down the road I think was was always pretty keen on on the idea of playing at Auburn um I mean I I I don't know how Clowny was for you guys that first you know year on campus but the thing about cam Coleman you talk about you know the role he might play play it's so crazy kind of have to remind ourselves that he just turned 18 because since the spring it's it's been like an afterthought number first of all he's been the starter at at the outside receiver spot since the spring but number two I mean he's just every practice people are like cam Coleman did this cam Coleman did that he made one of the craziest catches I've ever seen I just think again and here we are here I am putting more expectations on a on a freshman but like it's tough to ignore when he does that every single day in practice and you're reminded of the kind of talent that that someone like that has absolutely good that spring will help him tremendously too I it's you know this is a subject is kind of a a ironic thing I actually entered College I was the next to last class of of kids that came in that had to play freshman football you probably don't even remember this because you were born in in probably 2010 but but uh division one football freshman couldn't play VAR you had freshman football teams and the class right behind me also had a freshman team but the next group was the first year that freshman could play varsity and I remember all the conversations everybody was as it was being pushed in and talked about over that two three year period everybody was like this is so ridiculous these kids need that first year they need to get acclimated to school while they can play freshman football and have their own little team and their little environment they're not ready for this stuff right off the bat and people did not think that freshman would contribute when they first came in that's one of them I I didn't I thought man these guys they'll start getting bounced around and so forth and it was a little different game back then it wasn't nearly spread out or as as skill oriented it was more of a you know a physical banging game in the box but uh you know it's just amazing now to see some of these 18 year olds and you can see them coming along and you know even when they're 12 and 13 you can tell they've got the athletic ability to maybe be one of those guys and if they have the maturity to go along with it it's just been amazing to watch how easy some of these kids make that transition and and how how effective they are they they walk right out on power four football field straight out of a high school and they're as good as anybody else on the field and it's it's funny to look back to me and realize that when I first came along is when started letting freshman play yeah that's it I was a little bit still technically a 90s kid 1998 so I just I just barely snuck in there but yeah definitely definitely before my time um Ellis you mentioned it but let's talk about let's talk about the schedule and kind of just general expectations you know they're getting into the season opener here um FCS program in Alabama A&M obviously one that they expect to have a bunch of these young guys on the field in the second half get them a bunch of playing time but you know for as for as interesting as the schedule is it's you know five straight home games I know freeze has brought up a point that I didn't even think about he was sort of disappointed hey we don't get any games in October he's like that's the best weather month of the year and it makes things kind of lopsided going on the road three straight games that's a good point that's a good point to make but at the same time these five straight home games and they don't have Alabama and Georgia at home this year or they don't have so they have them on the road and so therefore their home schedule is I think a little bit more manageable just kind of your thoughts when you look at the the outlook for this team and and what they maybe could accomplish when you're looking at the schedule overall I look at it Nathan of course it's easy to say this about sitting in the room but I think it's comparatively as a sec team they've got a good schedule and I think the reason I say that is we've been talking these previous 30 minutes about new faces both players and coaches and all this transition and change and change well if you got Alabama NM Cal and Mexico you know to get the Kinks out I'm not saying you can go out there and lay an egg and still beat those guys but if you play reasonably well and play to your abilities you're going to win those games and you're going to have a ton of confidence you going to have confidence in the people in that room players and coaches confidence in players and players confidence with coaches and coaches Etc fan base is going to be on a positive vibe and everything else and that can be important so I think it I think it plays well for him then you add Arkansas who's not supposed to be a real good Arkansas Team and you still got them at home so I just think it gives them a heck of a chance to get a great start and I think a great start for this football team because of like I said the things you and I have been talking about I think it's going to be hugely important now what then they hit Oklahoma and Georgia and Missouri and all those I think that I think the games that I say their make a break games I think it's going to be Oklahoma at Missouri at Kentucky and then Texas A&M those are games that if they find a way to win half of them they're going to be in a major bowl I don't I don't think you know they gonna be able to get in the playoffs but you know if they win those four games they're all of a sudden maybe in that conversation so they've got the tough ones they got Alabama and Georgia on the road but if you got to play Alabama and Georgia which Auburn always does if you got to play them you might as well play them on the road because it's going to be hard to beat them anyhow right now they they're they're at the top of their game uh so that you know they've never been intimidated by that they've been in those two stadiums many times before uh so I I think that to me the schedule is a very good schedule for this Auburn team and we'll we'll end on this and obviously after the first games we can talk about what we saw from the SEC and um you know we'll learn more about them the next few weeks but just kind of what are your overall impressions of what the league could look like this year obviously it's it's it's different than it's ever been going to 16 um but you mentioned Alabama and Georgia we haven't even talked about the changes at you know the changes at Alabama obviously Nick Sabin is Nick sabin's no longer the coach there but I think Texas is a really popular pick to win the league from a lot of people just sort of your general thoughts on maybe some teams that uh some teams that could be among the top in the league and and just sort of your thoughts on maybe some other groups well and they've had some bad luck already in training camp with injuries but to me Texas might be the best team in the league uh that's hard to say when you got Georgia playing as well as they've played and recruiting as well as they've recruited but I kind of I kind of like their big play potential and their defense has been really improved both through recruiting and I think they've kind of gotten a new attitude and they've been better on defense than they have lately so I say watch out for Texas and oh miss is another really really dangerous team because they they find mean they uh Lane has stayed long enough finally somewhere to really put his fingerprints on something and I think that they're starting to be what he envisions his program being and uh they've made some coaching changes over the last two years but I I think they're a dangerous team but I don't think there is is completely the roster the depth and the you know the talent level I'm not sure it's as deep as like we were talking about Auburn having some confidence in in their depth chart now uh it'll be hard for them to make that that run in my opinion because of physicality but talent wise they're right up there with them so I I don't know man it's hard to say there will be a surprise team that's picked down in the middle of the bunch somewhere that's going to jump up and win nine or 10 s like Missouri did last year but I do think that overall there four or five teams have got a shot to win it and those four and five I think you've got a great shot to get in the playoffs most interesting thing to me as we watch the season unfold is going to be how many SEC teams in that 12 team playoff because I think that you could get more in there than people think and when they do it'll start another argument like it always does when two of them used to get in the four team playoff when they get four of them in the 12 team playoff and people are going to be Raising Kane again uh but the difference in the SEC and the Big 10 in my opinion which is the bottom of the conference I think bottom of that big 10 is is very average football at times when you talk about playoffs but their team's halfway down in the SEC it beats you any day you line up yeah I mean we'll we'll see how like you said like you know the number eight or nine team in the SEC is probably still going to be a pretty good team I saw that the 20125 recruiting rankings right now um I think Oklahoma's ranked number nine in recruiting and they the number eight team in the SEC in recruiting so that's just that's just how it's going to be that's just gonna that's just how it's going to be right now yeah South Carolina I mean South Carolina's picked two or three from the bottom yeah and I tell you they're GNA be a dangerous football team this year I mean you you don't want to play them when you got two or three your best players hurt you don't want to go in and put the ball on the ground two or three times they're gonna beat you so they're dangerous team and they're not even in the top half by any stretch but we'll know something pretty quick I mean you got A&M's got Notre Dame Georgia's got Clemson Florida's got Miami LSU's got USC Texas has got to get go to Michigan Tennessee is going to play NC State who's picked to be a possible ACC winner this year we're gonna get some good games early on to kind of get a better feeling for where these teams are but I mean it' just be an understatement to say it's got a chance to be an exciting year but what do you expect with those with Texas Oklahoma coming in already as good as the SEC was to start with I mean I don't know how you could expect anything else for sure definitely looking forward to it um we will be back this time next week to talk about those games what we saw from that what we saw from Auburn in week one as they'll be getting ready for a power four match up of their own against Cal obviously Cal gave them everything they could want last year granted that was 2500 miles from home we'll see how Cal does making that same trip uh back to the PLS Ellis thank you so much first Coach's Corner of the year we really really enjoyed it and looking forward to the rest of the season thanks Nate looking forward to it