The rung-at-a-time climb up the coaching ladder can be a slow process.
But that’s not how it’s starting off for Eli Johnson.
He’s 24 years old and will be calling plays where Willie Totten and Jerry Rice once gained national attention.
Johnson, the starting center for Ole Miss in 2019, was named offensive line coach at Mississippi Valley State in early January. By the end of the month, he was offensive coordinator.
Valley’s transition began when former coach Vincent Dancy left to join Deion Sanders’ staff at Colorado.
Valley moved quickly to name Delta State wide receivers coach Kendrick Wade, a Valley alum, as its head coach.
Johnson and Wade grew up together in Cleveland before Johnson moved to Oxford and became a college football recruit at Lafayette County High School.
Together they face the challenge of reviving an offense that averaged 14.45 points for the 2-9 Delta Devils last season.
“The biggest thing is you have a lot more responsibility from a holistic standpoint schematically, doing the installs, having to script for practice and having to be involved in more places offensively than just the offensive line,” Johnson said.
It’s not hard to find young coaches who believe in themselves.
Finding head coaches willing to hand off such responsibility to a young coach is another matter.
Wade had conversations with other candidates but circled back to Johnson.
Johnson’s short professional history — one season as a graduate assistant coach at Ball State after concluding his playing career at New Mexico State — could work in his favor early in 2023. There’s no video for opposing defensive coordinators to lean on.
If they peel back the layers, they’ll see career influencers who leaned to the run game like Rich Rodriguez, the OC at Ole Miss in 2019, or guys who threw it more like Rebels OC Phil Longo and coach Hugh Freeze earlier in Johnson’s career.
New Mexico State’s Doug Martin and Ball State’s Mike Neu also impacted how Johnson looks at football.
The only hint Johnson will give about his first Valley offense is he wants to develop physical players who can win the point of attack.
“Football is not nearly as complicated a game as people make it out to be. I don’t have a lot of experience, but I’m confident we’ll be able to put something together here. We’re going to focus on the things that matter and the things that win games,” Johnson said.
Maybe one Saturday this fall, winning or losing comes down to Johnson’s decision on fourth-and-goal.
It’s a moment he’s thought about for a long time.
“As a player I knew I was going to spend a lot of time in coaching in the offensive line room because that’s where I played, but I always wanted to be a play-caller at some point. I wasn’t expecting it to happen this quick at this high of a level,” Johnson said. “I’m super, super excited about it. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do even as a kid.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
