Cedric Johnson and the Ole Miss defensive line expect to 'have a lot more fun' this season
Cedric Johnson is nearly three weeks into being back at full strength at an Ole Miss football practice and he is seeing the defensive line getting after quarterbacks.
This is not a shock to Johnson, who was announced by the Maxwell Football Club to be on the Bednarik Award preseason watch list earlier this week, as the brand new defensive scheme of Pete Golding is starting to show off some of the benefits.
Last Saturday’s first scrimmage of camp saw the defense come out on top and the defensive line ended the day with a handful of sacks.
Golding showed off a taste of what the new Ole Miss defense will look like this season. That includes bringing over what worked during his time at Alabama which was to focus on stopping the run first.
“I love the way that we’ve been getting after the ball,” Johnson said after Saturday’s scrimmage. “I like the way that (Golding’s) been coaching us. Getting us right. It’s exciting for us, especially the d-line. We’re going to have a lot more fun this year.”
Johnson is one of 85 defensive players in all of college football to be named to the Bednarik Award watch list and one of 11 Southeastern Conference players. The award is given annually to college football’s defensive player of the year.
The senior defensive end has already been named to the preseason All-SEC teams by Phil Steel (First Team), Athlon (Third Team) and Lindy’s (Third Team). He is the program’s active career sack leader with 13.5.
Johnson is working his way back from an injury that nagged him all last season, causing him to miss two games. So far after more than half of fall camp Johnson has looked strong as part of the new four-man front Golding is going to use as his base defense.
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The entire Ole Miss defense is still a work in progress with most of the new faces on the roster on that side of the football.
Last week’s scrimmage was an important one for Golding who was going to use it as a barometer for not only where the entire defense is but how individual players are performing in their current roles.
Golding acknowledged last week that he will be fluid in the defensive scheme the utilize each week, depending on who the opponent is that Saturday. Players could also see some movement as Golding works to find the best position and role for each player to contribute to the fullest extent.
Midway through August Johnson likes where he see the defense a little more than two weeks away from the season opener against Mercer.
“I believe we’re in a great position right now,” Johnson said. “I feel like just starting to fine-tune some things. For the first half (of camp) and three more weeks I feel like we’re in a great position. We’ve just to clean up a few more things and we should be fine.”
The confidence is strong for a defense that had most of the concerns heading into fall camp. A new coordinator, position coaches and roster has not deterred Ole Miss from trying to match its defense to the production of its offense.
