As the youngest offensive coordinator in the nation, Brian Johnson was at the helm of an offense that struggled in his first year. In part because of injuries, the Utes finished near the bottom of the Pac-12 in every offensive category in 2012 and dead last in passing yards per game.
Enter Dennis Erickson, former head coach of three current Pac-12 schools. He has a long list of accolades to his name, including a couple of national championships, and he and Johnson will co-coordinate in hopes of bringing out the best in the 2013-2014 edition of the Utah offense.
There is still a lot of time for change before the Utes make their season debut at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Aug. 29, but so far it seems as though there are few things on offense that will be different from last year.
However, Johnson did say the coaches made a concerted effort to have the offense run a little faster than last year, and Erickson’s presence has helped. But Erickson sees it as addition by subtraction.
“I don’t know that I changed a lot. I just kind of slowed things down [and] condensed a lot of different things,” he said. “We just got them organized and cut things back … We’re not going to do a lot of things, but we’re going to do whatever we have really good. And it’s made a difference.”
Both Johnson and Erickson said they’ve enjoyed working with each other, and collaboration hasn’t been an issue. One of the things Johnson has enjoyed most is having Erickson’s wealth of knowledge and experience to draw from and lean on as they decide how to go forward.
Johnson acknowledged that having Erickson’s experience around is handy even for things like setting the depth chart, which is mostly decided on the field. But he doesn’t discount the value of simply having the presence of Erickson around. His two championship rings speak volumes, and Johnson believes he can help lead the Utes to a bright future.
“Just from day-to-day having someone to bounce ideas off of back and forth and have that constant communication with has been really good for us,” Johnson said. “I’m looking forward to when we get to fall and when we get into that room and start game-planning some opponents.”
In scrimmages, the two have split play-calling duties, but it remains to be seen how that will go once the season starts. Sophomore quarterback Travis Wilson said it’s been good having two different coordinators who are on the same page.
“It’s a little different, but they really are good with each other and work well off of each other,” Wilson said. “It’s not like they are teaching two different things, they are just teaching us in ways that we all can understand.”