Florida announces hiring of Houston OC Brian Johnson as assistant coach
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Dan Mullen is bringing another former Mississippi State assistant to Florida.
Brian Johnson, who spent the 2017 season as the Houston Cougars' offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, was announced as a UF assistant coach on Sunday. The previous three seasons (2014-16), Johnson was on staff at Mississippi State as quarterbacks coach. Johnson joins John Hevesy, Billy Gonzales and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham as Mullen's officially hired assistants at Florida. Position group assignments for Gonzales, Hevesy and Johnson have not yet been announced.
This past season, Houston averaged 436.1 yards per game, No. 35 nationally, with Johnson as play-caller. A trio of Cougars quarterbacks Kyle Allen, D’Eriq King, and Kyle Postma combined for 2,887 passing yards, 539 rushing yards, and 27 total touchdowns.
Johnson coached the SEC's top player in total offense in two of his three seasons at MSU. Former Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott gained a combined 4,435 yards in 2014. Current MSU quarterback Nick Fitzgerald posted a conference-leading 3,798 yards in 2016.
The production of Prescott and Fitzgerald led to record-setting and record-breaking performances during Johnson's three seasons at MSU. MSU produced the two highest single-season passing totals in school history in 2014 and '15. During those two seasons, seventeen MSU single-game and single-season team total offense, scoring and passing records fell.
Prior to Mississippi State, Johnson spent four seasons (2010-13) on staff at Utah, his alma mater. In 2011, Johnson became the youngest FBS offensive coordinator on Feb. 2, 2011 at the age of 24.
As a Ute, Johnson played for Mullen and Urban Meyer during Utah's successful 2004 12-0 season. Johnson was the true freshman backup to Alex Smith, appearing in 10 games. After Meyer and Mullen left Utah for Florida, Johnson became a three-year starting quarterback finishing with the most wins in school history (26).
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