Auburn defensive coordinator hates the hurry-up, no huddle offense. He said so himself. Despite the fact that he works for a coach who employs the, well, hurry-up, no huddle offense.

Listen to Johnson himself:

“One thing that has gotten into it that I’ve been pretty outspoken, that I really think is starting to deteriorate some of college football is the hurry up offenses …

Ellis..come again? You know who your boss is, right?

“What’s happening now with the rules is that you can snap it as soon as you want to or you can sit on it for 40 seconds, and there is no in-between … The NFL cut it out with Buffalo in the 90’s, they kind of put some cold water on it a little bit with the Colts not too many years ago. What they realized is they’re taking the game of football and turning it into soccer or lacrosse. There’s nothing wrong with those sports, but that’s not football.”

That’s not football Ellis? So you don’t like the dipsy-doo, trickeroo style your boss Gus Bus lives by?

“What it’s about now is who can snap the football before the other team lines up. You can’t hardly get your players on and off the field. You can’t get your signals in and out. It’s become who has the best signal system or verbiage system … It’s not about blocking, tackling, running, route running, throwing, and so forth. It’s something the college football world needs to look at.”

So you don’t like gimmick football either, huh Ellis? You’re not for the trickeration high school 7-on-7 bull crap that Auburn University Football has hung its future on?

“It sounds like sour grapes right now, but there is not a balanced playing field.”

His words came in a 2011 interview with cbssports.com while still at South Carolina. Johnson would leave the following year for the head job at Southern Miss before failing miserably, finishing 0-12, including blowout losses to Rice, SMU and Western Kentucky, not to mention an embarrassing loss to lowly UAB. He was shown the door immediately.

I guess Johnson loves the hurry-up now, eh? Unemployment can change a man’s perspectives. Or can it?

Johnson was a cancer on Mike Dubose’s staff at Alabama because he didn’t see eye-to-eye with the head coach. With such a history of undercutting his superior, and stabbing him in the back numerous times on his weekly appearance on the Paul Finebaum radio show, one has to wonder if history is about to repeat itself.

I hope not.


(Follow ITK on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

24 thoughts on “Auburn Defensive Coordinator Ellis Johnson speaks out against the hurry up offense”

  1. Irony. A real journalist should throw that quote back at him and let him respond to it. However there is no such thing. Scabs and others are nothing but PR wings for the AU athletic department.

  3. I agree at least with what he said two years ago.

    Alabama hiking the ball to Mark Ingram play after play against SC. That’s football. We showed them what we were going to do, we gave them time to try and stop it, and they just couldn’t. Football is clearly a lot more than just out-powering your opponent in the 4th quarter, but that drive epitomized what I love about football and, in particular, Alabama football.

    On the other hand, I don’t think there are too many people out there whose favorite drive was the one where their team was holding up the Bengal/Spongebob/Tulip/Big-head-Elmo placard when the o-line turned to look at the signal call. Seriously, winning is one thing, but Spongebob? Come on.

    I can respect it since it’s allowed per the rules. I don’t have to like it. I won’t like it. I like LSU, South Carolina, Clemson, Alabama, Stanford, Notre Dame, Michigan, even Tennessee for not using gimmicks and signs that look like they belong at Gameday rather than on the sidelines.

    “But the sport is changing.” No, the sport already changed. 20 years ago you didn’t have 4 men on the line that weighed 300 pounds. Those guys were rare. Now they’re on every team.

    And I love it.

    I don’t want that to change, and I don’t think it’s crazy to belive we should try to avoid it being replaced by chess on the gridiron. I get the argument that the offense is on the field just as much as the defense so it’s just as hard on them. Fine. I still don’t have to like it.

    Because I like football.

    My greatest fear is that the HUNH will have real success. In a lot of ways, it already has. It got two HUNH teams to play each other in one of the sloppiest and ugliest championship games I’ve ever seen. One of those HUNH teams won the title. Others have had winning records and scores that look more like a night out at the bowling alley than a football game because of the HUNH.

    The success of the HUNH is based on being able to trick the best football players and their teams into doing something they don’t expect and/or aren’t ready for. It’s a trick used by teams that can’t compete against the best fundamental football teams, but since it’s legal it’s called a “tool” instead of a “trick.” I’m having a hard time not swearing right now. Roll Tide.

  4. The BCS game in 2010 is the highest rated championship game ever. Had they not re-done the surface and made it so slippery, it would have went down as equal or better than 2005. We should have beat Oregon by 2 touchdowns, but it was in our contract that year the game couldn’t be decided till the last minute, or so it seemed. I can tell you from being there it was anything but boring.

    2. It was in your contract to play the national title game down to the last minute…by rolling over a defender on a 40-yard play?

      No offense Elite Tiger, but I’m starting to think you’re not actually sincere about what you say? I had doubts before, but it sounds like just mock drivel designed to illicit a response. Guess it worked, just for the wrong reasons. Good grief.

      1. You need to recognize a joke Conduit when you read it. But the broader meaning is our games that year were must see tv. As far as the ratings go, I did research it, and I was wrong about 2011. It was the one of the highest rated cable programs, and the 9th BCS rated game. Unlike others on this site, if I remember something wrong, I correct it.

        1. Funny. When you say things like that about Alabama, you’re serious. But when you say them about Auburn, we’re supposed to know you’re joking?

          It makes more sense now. And we’re still the champions for the right reasons. I’m loving it. Roll Tide.

  5. There were only two reasons the 2010 BCSNCG drew a heavy rating and any Barnie who thinks Awbie outdrew Bama on its own merits is hopelessly disillusioned. 1. The Pac 12 was delirious over finally getting a team to the BCSNCG and the larget population State in the country – California – boosted the ratings. 2. The whole damn country was caught up in the Scam Newton ordeal and everybody wanted to see him play. Probably more than half wanted to see him fall on his ass.. The reality was that outside of the Pac 12, nobody wanted to see Oregon except those thinking this was the best chance the world had of kicking the SEC’s ass – and they nearly did too. And outside of Lee County nobody wanted to see Aubie.And the game was booring too. Oregons’ #1 offense and Awbies Scam Newton/Gussie Malzahn spread option combined to produce an LSU/Alabama type game – WITHOUT an LSU/Alabama type defense anywhere in sight. If not for the officials letting Awbie players literally murder the poor Oregon players, the SEC streak would have stopped right there. The way Bama played in the Cap 1 Bowl, they would have beaten either one of those teams by 3 touchdowns that night.

  6. The 2 most exciting teams(and the 2 best) were what everybody tuned in to see. They wanted to see a team Auburn who had overcome every obstacle both on and off the field, and we were fun to watch. To think otherwise means you need to take off your crimson glasses. Neither team played great, and that was Cam’s worst game. The country saw us trail by double digits and come back every time, with the greatest being in your own house. But at full strength, we beat you 21-3. They wanted to see Oregon get up like that on us, and if they did, could we do it one more time. By the way, I don’t like the cards on the sidelines, but think every team should do what gives them the best chance to win.

  7. If nobody outside Lee County wanted to see the game, how come we passed LSU-Alabama the next year by 13%, and was virtually the same as last year? But don’t let facts get in the way of not wanting to give us credit for anything.

  8. Pingback: Five things you won't see at SEC Media Days 2013 | Capstone Report

  9. Ellis

    “At full strength, 21-3?? 2 nonfactors being suspended for a half does not make you less than full strength. Bama really wins the 2005 game after the 1st Qtr using that stupid ass logic. We gave Auburn that game and the false hope from that game is enabling Alabama to control Auburn for at least the next 5-10 years. Bwahahahahs

    1. They weren’t 2 non factors. One was a starter and the other played at least half the time. But at full strength means the full complement of players. Sorry I have to explain everything do others can follow. I will type slower so that will help ya’ll out.

    2. If those 2 had played the entire game, the score might not have been 24-0 at one point. Truth is, I don’t know how that would have changed the game, and neither does anyone else. Don’t think Bama will control us for the next 5 or 10 years, but if they do, good for you and bad for us. Phil Steele who is good at predictions said, ” The talent gap between the 2 is not 49-0, but will take Auburn 2-3 years to get back in title contention.” He also said we would win 6 or 7 games this year, with Arkansas, Tennessee, and Ole Miss being toss ups.

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