The Blue Board

He is not a huge recruiter, but he is a damn good coach. He runs the 4-2-5 which has obviously been very affective at Carolina. It did not take him very long to get the right players into his system here, so it will probably will be even quicker at Auburn. His system revolves around the SPUR position (hybrid LB/DB). So if he can get an effective SPUR and solid D-line you will see immediate results. Our current D-Coordinator Lorenzo Ward learned from Ellis, and has been very successful in his first year as full time DC. Ellis isn't very aggressive with pressures, and has more of a bend but dont break mentality. He was very successful here at USC and is one of the main reasons we have turned our program around. Beside the fact that he struggled stopping y'all in the SECCG (we weren't the only ones that year) and Arkansas seemed to have his number; he was able to stop some very good offenses and his system has proved to be effective. I also dont think you have to worry about him leaving until he is ready for retirement, due to his lack of success as a head coach, and I dont see any lateral moves in his future due to his age. If Auburn, FSU or whoever picks up EJ they will land a homerun DC!

ellis johnson knows better than to get mixed up with ur kind.

Some people round' these parts seem to think otherwise.

Was our OLB coach on our '92 national championship team. Looks like CaptAUmerica is on board!

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Stephon Gilmore, D Hollomon, some kid named Clowney all come to mind.

He was a great recruiter for us. Not sure why some of our fans keep saying he had an aggressive defense. He played bend but don't break and hardly ever blitzed. Solid scheme, though.

They all came from the same HS. EJ isn't going to go scour the region for talent. They could give him like, Mobile, and let him stay home most of the time.

His LB recruiting was fairly lackluster for that being his area of expertise.

Ellis Johnson is a very good recruiter, but was a coordinator so his recruiting responsibilities were limited. He was given the Rock for Carolina and took care of business. The rock does produces many of the best players in the state(may be wrong on one or two but here are some that come from that small area; Jon Heffney, Jonathon Joseph, Stephon Gilmore, JD Clowney, Cordalle Patterson, Chris Hope, Ko Simpson, Gerald Dixon(both sons as well), Ben Watson, Jeff Burris) While Ellis had the area, it was Carolina lock down

High school coaches respect him, and he is a very good game planner. He was far more passive defensively than Ward is for us now, which I think is fine, if you have great CB's

In about 5-6 years after he leaves Auburn.. I saw him first LOS..

Ellis still has good connects in the state of Alabama and should be able to reconnect quickly. Solid recruiter that was known in these parts as a man of his word, very little bs in other words. Played a lot of zone in his 4-2-5, so be prepared for the bend ,don't break, positioning of your cb's as mentioned earlier. You will give up some yardage, but not points.Tries to always keep the opponent in front of him rather than giving up the big play. Get him some nasties on your front four and you will be fine. Our current DC, Lorenzo Ward, has run the same defense for years previously with EJ plus an additional 7 years with Beamer at VT. It is a defense that can blitz from an assload of different positions which is always fun to watch. EJ was a little more conservative with the scheme overall than Ward to this point. If Ward were not with Carolina, I would love to have Ellis back in a skinny minute. Should this hire come about, you guys are in good hands going forward imo.