Former UA Defensive Coordinator Explains the Role of an Analyst [Audio]

Regardless of the level of football, coaching can influence areas of a team such as discipline, preparation and consistency in performance.

An aspect of the coaching profession that Nick Saban and other college football coaches use to gain an edge on Saturdays is with coaching analysts.

Analysts have various backgrounds ranging from former players to former head coaches.

During the off-season, Saban hired former Florida State and NFL quarterback Chris Weinke and former Ole Miss offensive coordinator Dan Werner as analysts.

At another SEC school, former Alabama defensive coordinator serves the role of an analyst for Will Muschamp’s coaching staff at South Carolina.

Johnson paid a visit on The Gary Harris Show and discussed numerous topics including his explanation of what he does as an analyst for Muschamp.

“What I do is self-scout our offense and just kind of take it as if I was a defensive coordinator having to prepare to play for them the following game, and then I give it to him (Will Muschamp) and Coach (Kurt) Roper our offensive coordinator to look at it.” Johnson said.

The former defensive coordinator at multiple SEC schools further described how his research aids Muschamp’s coaching staff for game day.

“I look at things that I think we can deploy as a defense or things that I think that are really, really going to be hard on the defense and give those things to them.” Johnson said.

Johnson later explained how he helps Will Muschamp relative to scouting opposing offenses.

“I stay a week ahead of our defensive staff just breaking down opposing offenses that we’re going to play, then on Sundays, when we start on the next opponent, I’ll give them an overview of who we’re getting ready to play.” Johnson stated.

Besides his role as an analyst, Johnson described the role of an analyst in general.

“Their jobs can be a lot of different job descriptions. Some of them are very much more involved with the players on just a counseling basis or an academic basis. Some of them are doing more things than quality control and film study than I do.” Johnson said.

On a typical college football coaching staff, he details how many on-the-field coaches receive the help of an analyst.

“Every football coach on our staff, every full-time on-the-field football coach, either has a graduate assistant or an analyst that is their right hand man and does whatever they need to do to help them prepare to coach their position.” Johnson said.

The Gary Harris Show airs every weekday from 9-11 AM on Tide 102.9/100.9 and the radioPup app.