Brian Johnson’s impact on the Florida football program has been felt since he arrived on campus in December of 2017. Johnson's contribution to the Gators' offense led Head Coach Dan Mullen to name him Florida's offensive coordinator just before the 2020 season.
In his first two seasons with the Gators, Johnson produced the best quarterback unit Florida has seen since Tim Tebow was on campus.
Johnson came to Florida following one season at Houston as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
A native of Baytown, Texas, Johnson joined Houston after three seasons as quarterbacks coach at Mississippi State under Dan Mullen, where he helped develop 2016 NFL Rookie of the Year Dak Prescott and led the Bulldogs to three consecutive bowl games.
Prior to his time at Mississippi State, Johnson coached at Utah where he became the youngest NCAA FBS offensive coordinator in the nation at age 24.
As a player, Johnson was a three-year starting quarterback at Utah and finished his career with the most wins as a starting quarterback in school history (26-7). In 2008, he led Utah to a 31-17 win over No. 4 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl en route to a perfect 13-0 season.
Florida (2018-Present)
In the 2019 season, Johnson readied Gators’ backup quarterback, Kyle Trask, after Feleipe Franks suffered a season-ending injury against Kentucky. However, the transition for Florida was virtually seamless with Johnson guiding Trask.
After taking over the Gators’ offense, Trask went 233 of 349 (66.8%) for 2,901 yards and 25 touchdowns (plus four rushing touchdowns).
Trask threw 25 touchdowns over the course of the season, making him one of 27 FBS quarterbacks with at least 25 TD tosses in 2019 -- but his 354 attempts were tied for the fifth-fewest of that group.
The Manvel, Texas, native ranked 15
th nationally in passer rating at 156.09, becoming the first Gator to finish inside the top 35 nationally in passer rating since 2009 when Tim Tebow’s 164.2 rating led the nation.
On four occasions during the 2019 season, Trask threw for 300-plus yards, joining Chris Leak as the only Gator since the start of 2003 to post four 300-yard passing games in the same season. Trask was also the first Gator since Leak to have two 300-yard outings against SEC opponents in the same season.
Against No. 5 LSU, Trask threw three touchdowns and then followed it up with a career-high four touchdowns at South Carolina, making him the first Gator since Tebow to throw at least three touchdowns in consecutive games.
TRASK BY THE NUMBERS
| Year |
GP |
Att-Comp (Pct.) |
Yards |
TD |
INT |
TD-INT Ratio |
300+ Yard Games |
3+ TDs |
| 2019 |
12 |
354-237 (66.9) |
2,941 |
25 |
7 |
3.6 |
4 |
4 |
Overall, Florida finished 16
th nationally in passing offense at 300.8 yards per game, marking the first time in nearly two decades that is has thrown the ball that consistently.
The Gators closed the season with four consecutive 300-yard passing games, marking its longest streak of 300-yard passing outings since 2001, when it had 300-plus yards in all 12 games
Those four games put Florida at eight 300-yard passing games in a season for the first time since 2001 (all 12 games) and for the third time since the start of 1997.
In route to their win over Vanderbilt, the Gators amassed 410 passing yards, marking just the third 400-yard passing game since the start of the 2003 season.
Florida’s passing offense, which had been non-existent prior to Johnson’s arrival, returned to respectively in 2018 as Feleipe Franks put together the best since for a Florida quarterback since Tim Tebow wore the Orange & Blue.
In addition, there was a sizeable improvement in the Gators’ passing attack from 2017 to 2018, with Franks's numbers speaking for themselves:
FRANKS 2017 - 2018
| Year |
GP |
Att-Comp (Pct.) |
Yards |
TD |
INT |
TD-INT Ratio |
200+ Yard Games |
2+ TDs |
| 2018 |
13 |
188-322 (58.4) |
2,457 |
24 |
6 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
| 2017 |
11 |
125-229 (54.6) |
1,438 |
9 |
8 |
1.13 |
1 |
3 |
Franks ranked tied for 32nd nationally with 24 touchdown passes--the highest single-season total by a UF quarterback since Tebow threw 30 in 2008. Tebow also threw 32 in 2007, the year he won the Heisman Trophy. For more perspective on Franks’ improvement, when the Gators won the 2006 BCS National Championship, Chris Leak threw 23.
Meanwhile, his four games of three-plus touchdown passes were the most such games since Tebow had four in 2008, and they were just one shy of UF quarterbacks’ combined total from the 50 games spanning 2014-17.
The Crawfordville, Fla. native finished tied for 17th nationally in touchdown-interception ratio. Among players with 315-plus attempts, he tied for 14th. In 2017, Franks ranked tied for 107th nationally among qualifying FBS players. Since the start of 1996, Tebow (7.50 - 2008; 5.33 - 2007; 4.20 - 2009) is the only Gator with a better touchdown-interception ratio than Franks’ 4.00 (24 to 6) in 2018. The next-closest ratio during that span to Franks’ current one is Chris Leak’s 3.33 (20 to 6) in 2005.
Franks was also one of 12 FBS quarterbacks to throw more than 20 touchdowns and less than seven interceptions in 2018, a group that includes stars such as Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Georgia’s Jake Fromm, and UCF’s McKenzie Milton. It was only the fourth time since 1996 a Gator accomplished that feat (Tebow, 2007-09), and Franks had the second-most attempts (322) in that bundle, only trailing Tebow’s 2007 season (350).
He finished the season with 31 touchdowns accounted for (24 passing, 7 rushing), tied with Chris Leak’s 2004 season for the seventh-highest single-season total in school history. Those seven rushing touchdowns left him one shy of tying Tebow (2006) and Jimmy Fisher (1979) for the sixth-most rushing touchdowns by a Gators quarterback in a single season.
Finally, he registered the highest passing yardage total since Tebow threw for 2,895 yards in 2009 and his six 200-yard passing games are the most since Tebow’s seven in 2009.
Franks capped his season with Offensive MVP honors in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, as he joined Tebow as the only other Gators quarterback since the start of the 2000 season to record a passing touchdown and rushing touchdown in a bowl game. Tebow accomplished the feat three times.
Houston (2017)
Johnson helped lead Houston’s offense to 436.1 yards per game, good enough for 35th nationally. His trio of quarterbacks: Kyle Allen, D’Eriq King, and Kyle Postma combined for 2,887 passing yards, 539 rushing yards, and 27 total touchdowns.
Mississippi State (2014-16)
Under his tutelage, Mississippi State quarterbacks led the SEC in total offense in two of Johnson’s three years as sophomore Nick Fitzgerald totaled 3,798 yards of total offense in 2016 and Prescott led the league with 4,435 yards in 2014. The current Dallas Cowboy was second in the league in 2015 with 4,381 yards.
The 2016 season saw Fitzgerald finish the regular season as one of only three quarterbacks nationally with over 1,000 rushing yards (1,385 yards) and 2,000 passing yards (2,423 yards), joining Heisman winner Lamar Jackson and The American’s 2016 Offensive Player of the Year, USF’s Quinton Flowers, in accomplishing the feat. The trio were also the only players to rush for at least 15 touchdowns and throw for at least 20 as Fitzgerald ended the year with 16 rushing scores and 21 passing touchdowns.
Fitzgerald led the nation with three games with at least 300 yards passing and 100 yards rushing, and was the first SEC quarterback to produce three such games since Johnny Manziel accomplished the feat en route to the 2012 Heisman Trophy.
The sophomore shattered MSU’s single-season rushing record by a quarterback and finished second on the school’s single-season rushing yards chart regardless of position, just six yards from the program record. He tied an MSU program record with eight 100-yard rushing games and finished the season second on the MSU single-season charts with 16 rushing touchdowns. He had an SEC-best 45 runs of at least 10 yards this season.
In Johnson’s first two seasons in Starkville, MSU produced the two highest single-season passing totals in school history. Seventeen MSU single-game and single-season team total offense, scoring and passing records fell in that span. The catalyst for the record-setting success was Prescott, who Johnson helped develop into the most decorated player in school history and a 2016 NFL Draft selection.
Prescott shattered 38 school records (eight single-game, 15 single-season, 15 career) and became one of the greatest quarterbacks in SEC history. He joined Tim Tebow as the only two SEC players to pass for 8,500 yards and rush for 2,000 yards in a career.
Johnson worked closely with Prescott to polish his passing skills and what resulted in 2015 became history. A finalist for the Manning and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Awards, Prescott shattered nine single-season records as a senior passer, including yards (3,793), completions (316), completion percentage (.662), efficiency (151.7) and 300-yard games (seven).
The first two-time first-team All-SEC quarterback at MSU since 1956-57, the Dallas Cowboys called Prescott’s name with the No. 135 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. He became the highest drafted SEC quarterback since 2013.
Prescott became the first player ever at MSU to be named a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award presented to college football’s top signal caller. In 2014, Prescott shattered 12 MSU individual single-season records, including total offense (4,435), touchdowns responsible (41), passing completions (244), completion percentage (.616), passing yards (3,449), passing touchdowns (27) and passing efficiency (151.7).
Prescott finished eighth in the 2014 Heisman Trophy voting. In addition, Johnson helped form the SEC’s top offense in 2014 as MSU led the league in total offense for the first time since 1982, averaging a school-record 513.8 yards per game. The Bulldogs broke 14 team single-season records en route to the Orange Bowl, including total offense (6,679), points (480), offensive touchdowns (60), first downs (334), passing yards (3,649), completions (261) and passing touchdowns (31).
Utah (2010-13)
Prior to his arrival at MSU, Johnson spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Utah, including one season as the offensive coordinator and one season as the co-offensive coordinator. He coached quarterbacks since joining the staff in 2010. A rising star in the coaching profession, Johnson became the youngest NCAA FBS offensive coordinator in the nation at age 24 on Feb. 2, 2011.
The fast ascension in coaching has been nothing new for Johnson. Dan Mullen, then the quarterbacks coach at Utah, signed Johnson to a National Letter of Intent at just 16 years old in 2004. Johnson went on to play in 10 games as a true freshman backup to Heisman Trophy finalist Alex Smith during Utah's 12-0 Fiesta Bowl season.
The next spring, he became Utah's starting quarterback at age 17. In January 2010, a year after breaking the school record for wins by a starting quarterback (26), Johnson accepted a position as Utah's quarterbacks coach.
Two years in that role was enough time to convince head coach Kyle Whittingham to appoint Johnson as the new offensive coordinator. In 2013, Johnson had the opportunity to work alongside former three-time Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year Dennis Erickson as co-offensive coordinator.
Each of Johnson's first three seasons was defined by injuries at the quarterback position. Starter Jordan Wynn was injured for part or most of every season and Johnson inserted three different replacements from 2010-12. In both 2010 and 2011, Utah recovered to earn a bowl bid (Las Vegas Bowl and Sun Bowl).
With an eye to the future, Johnson anointed true freshman Travis Wilson the starting quarterback for the final seven games of the 2012 season. He also turned to the run game, implementing a game plan that allowed senior John White to net 1,041 yards and become the first Ute ever to produce back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Utah led the Pac-12 in time of possession, holding the ball an average of 32:07 a game.
Background
As a player, Johnson was a three-year starter and a two-time bowl most valuable player. He set the Utah school record for victories by a starting quarterback, finishing his career with a 26-7 record. A finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm and the Manning awards as a senior in 2008, Johnson captained Utah to the best record in school history (13-0) and a Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama. The Sugar Bowl MVP passed for 336 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Utes to a dominant 31-17 win over the fourth-ranked Tide.
For his career, Johnson threw for 7,853 yards and 57 touchdowns as well as running for 848 yards and 12 scores. He gained even more acclaim when EA Sports put him on the cover of its 2010 NCAA Football video game.
Coaching History
| Seasons |
School/Team |
Title/Position Coached |
| 2018-Present |
Florida |
Assistant Coach/ Quarterbacks |
| 2017 |
Houston |
Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks |
| 2014-16 |
Mississippi State |
Quarterbacks |
| 2012-13 |
Utah |
Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks |
| 2010-11 |
Utah |
Quarterbacks |
Postseason History
| Season |
Bowl / Playoff Game |
Opponent |
Result |
| 2019 |
Capital One Orange Bowl (Florida) |
Virginia |
W, 36-28 |
| 2018 |
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Florida) |
Michigan |
W, 41-15 |
| 2016 |
St. Petersburg Bowl (Mississippi State) |
Miami (Ohio) |
W, 17-16 |
| 2015 |
Belk Bowl (Mississippi State) |
N.C. State |
W, 51-28 |
| 2014 |
Orange Bowl (Mississippi State) |
Georgia Tech |
L, 49-34 |
| 2011 |
Sun Bowl (Utah) |
Georgia Tech |
W, 30-27 |
| 2010 |
Las Vegas Bowl (Utah) |
Boise State |
L, 26-3 |
NFL PLAYERS (ROUND DRAFTED)
QB Dak Prescott (4th) – Mississippi State ’16 – Dallas Cowboys
OG Jeremiah Poutasi (3rd) – Utah ’15 – Tennessee Titans
Personal Information
Hometown: Baytown, Texas
Education: Bachelor’s from Utah, 2008
Wife: Ashley
Children: Rossi & Harlow
