Brian Delance Johnson (born February 16, 1987) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who is the

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He previously served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in 2020 and also served as an assistant coach at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

and

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. Johnson played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and was drafted by the

New York Sentinels New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

in the

UFL Premiere Season Draft The UFL "Premiere" Season Draft was the inaugural draft of the United Football League (UFL). The results of the draft were announced via press release on June 19, 2009. Among the players selected were those that participated in earlier workouts in ...

in 2009.

Early years

Johnson was born to parents Stacey and Shonna Johnson of Barrett Station, Texas. His father played college football for the

UTEP Miners The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, ...

at the

University of Texas, El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

. His mom a beloved Nurse in Baytown, TX. Brian Johnson attended Robert E. Lee High School, where he lettered in football and basketball. During his senior year in 2003, in which he took over starting quarterback duties from

Drew Tate Drew Tate (born October 8, 1984) is an American gridiron football coach and former player. He is the tight ends coach at the University of Northern Iowa, a position he had held since 2022. He played college football as a quarterback at the Univer ...

, Johnson passed for 2,900 yards and 33 touchdowns, completed 71.6% of his passes, and rushed for 540 yards and 12 touchdowns. Johnson was named the district Most Valuable Player, first-team all-district, and second-team all-state.Player Bio
, University of Utah Utes football official website, retrieved January 3, 2009. After graduating early from Robert E. Lee High School Johnson was a two-star recruit coming out of high school, and not ranked among the top quarterback prospects of his class. Johnson was recruited by

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

Playing career

College

As a true freshman in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Johnson saw action in ten games as back-up to

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

finalist

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 20 ...

. He passed for a touchdown and ran for another, and compiled a 129.7

passer rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leag ...

. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, Johnson took over the starting quarterback position, where he remained for the first ten games until a season-ending knee injury against

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

on November 12. He threw for 2,892 yards and 18 touchdowns. Against

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, he was named the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

(MWC) Offensive Player of the Week for completing 32 of 45 passes for 384 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 67 yards and a touchdown. He was first in the MWC and fourth nationwide in total offensive yards with an average 337.0 yards per game. He was second in the MWC in passing yardage with 289.2 yards per game. The Utes record with Johnson at quarterback in 2005 was 5–5, before ultimately finishing the season 7–5. After surgery on December 1, 2005 to correct his knee injury, Johnson

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

ed his third year in order to convalesce during the 2006 season. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Johnson returned to see action in 11 games, ten of which were starts. In the first game of the season against

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, he injured his shoulder and subsequently missed two following games. During the season, he threw for 2,636 yards and 24 touchdowns. In the 2007 Poinsettia Bowl against

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, Johnson completed 20 out of 25 passes for 226 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 69 yards and one touchdown. For his performance, he was named the 2007 Poinsettia Bowl Most Valuable Player. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Johnson returned as the Utes' starting quarterback for his final season. In the first game against

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Jacksonville State University. Rodriguez previously was the head football coach at Salem Uni ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, he threw for 305 yards in Utah's 25–23 win. They went on to compile wins against

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

, Oregon State (who the previous week defeated

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

), and then 12th-ranked TCU, a team that only had one other loss in the season against future

BCS Championship Game The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college fo ...

participants second-ranked Oklahoma. In their final regular season game against 14th-ranked

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

, Johnson threw for 303 yards and four touchdowns in a 48–24 victory. Utah's performance was good enough to secure a sixth-ranked ranking the

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

(BCS) poll and the only BCS non-AQ conference team to secure a berth in a BCS game, the

2009 Sugar Bowl The 2009 Allstate Sugar Bowl was the 75th annual edition of the annual college football bowl game that is part of the 2008–09 bowl season of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The game was played on ...

, against

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) Western Division champions

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. Alabama had previously been 12–0 and ranked #1 in all the major polls before a defeat in the

SEC Championship Game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...

against

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In the Sugar Bowl, Johnson led then seventh-ranked Utah with 336 passing yards and three passing touchdowns in a 31–17 surprise upset over fourth-ranked Alabama. For his performance, Johnson was named the 2009 Sugar Bowl Most Outstanding Player. Utah finished the season as the only undefeated team with a 13–0 record.Utah secures perfect season with Sugar Bowl win over Alabama
ESPN, January 2, 2009, retrieved January 3, 2009. Johnson was featured as the cover athlete of the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

edition of the ''

NCAA Football 10 ''NCAA Football 10'' is a college football video game created by Electronic Arts. It is the successor to NCAA Football 09 in the NCAA Football series. It was released on July 14, 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and ...

'' video game. Johnson went 26-7 as a starting quarterback in his career at Utah and finished as the winningest quarterback in school history.

College statistics

Professional

After going undrafted in the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

, he was invited to the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

rookie mini-camp along with

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

quarterback David Johnson. He was not subsequently signed by an NFL team, but the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

were reportedly interested in him. Johnson was selected in the inaugural United Football League (UFL) draft by the

. Johnson had said at UFL tryouts, "It's a chance to keep playing football ... You have to take every opportunity you can get. You have to keep knocking on doors. You have to show them you can compete, that you have the physical tools they want." He signed with the team on August 5, 2009, but was released on September 28, 2009.

Coaching career

Utah

In January 2010, at 23 years of age, Johnson was named the

at the University of Utah by head coach

Kyle Whittingham Kyle David Whittingham (born November 21, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Utah, a position he has held since 2005, and is the all-time leader in wins at Utah. Prior to bec ...

. On February 2, 2012, two weeks before his 25th birthday, Johnson was named offensive coordinator at Utah by Whittingham.

Mississippi State

On February 10, 2014, Johnson was named as the quarterbacks coach at Mississippi State reuniting him with coach

Dan Mullen Dan Mullen (born April 27, 1972) is a former college football player and coach, and current television analyst with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and ESPN. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from ...

who offered him a scholarship to sign with Utah during

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

's tenure as the Utes head football coach.

Houston

On December 27, 2016, Johnson was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the

Florida

On December 10, 2017, Johnson was hired as the quarterbacks coach at the

, reuniting with head coach

. Prior to the 2020 season, Johnson was promoted to offensive coordinator, making him the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

offensive coordinator in team history.Gators QBs coach Brian Johnson makes UF history as new offensive coordinator
/ref>

Philadelphia Eagles

On January 27, 2021, Johnson was hired by the

as their quarterbacks coach under head coach

Nick Sirianni Nicholas John Sirianni (born June 15, 1981) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the offensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts from ...

References

External links

Utah Utes bio
(archived webpage) {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Brian 1987 births Living people People from Baytown, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football quarterbacks Utah Utes football players Utah Utes football coaches New York Sentinels players Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Houston Cougars football coaches Florida Gators football coaches Sportspeople from Harris County, Texas Philadelphia Eagles coaches African-American players of American football African-American coaches of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people