LSU’s outside linebackers coach Dennis Johnson is one of the faster risers in the college football ranks.
Johnson, 28, has been listed as the number one recruiter in the nation and was listed as one of the top 30 coaches under 30 by 247sports.com.
He goes by “Meatball” or, as defensive coordinator Dave Aranda calls him, Dennis “30 for 30” Johnson.
Johnson’s story at LSU began in 2008 as a sophomore defensive lineman walk-on from Itawamba Community College in Mississippi. Johnson spent four years on the team as a backup, and eventually earned a scholarship.
“LSU has always been a place that I can call home from the day I stepped foot on campus. From the teammates to the coaches, everybody has just been so opening and welcoming,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he didn’t consider any other school besides LSU, and he wanted to come here because “the best defensive linemen are known to come to LSU.”
Johnson spent his time prior to LSU in his hometown of Amory, Mississippi, a town of barely 7,000 people. Baton Rouge culture compared to Amory, a place Johnson called a football town filled with great people, was a little bit of a shock.
“The culture was a little bit shocking,” Johnson said. “That amount of people being on campus and stuff was overwhelming at the beginning. The love that I received, it was like being a part of one big family. I enjoyed it, coming from a small place where it is all about family.”
Johnson eventually found his footing in Baton Rouge, and established his spot on the team. In 2011 as a senior, Johnson was a backup to Michael Brockers and Bennie Logan – two players who he still maintains a close relationship with – and finished his senior season with seven tackles and a tackle for a loss.
“It was one to remember,” said Johnson. “We won some games, we competed, and won the SEC Championship. It’s something as a player that you dream about, and the chance to do that was amazing.”
Johnson, Brockers and Logan held down the middle of a defense that finished the season fifth in both total defense and rush defense.
“Me, Bennie Logan, Michael Brockers, Chancey [Aghayere] are all in a group text, and we talk all the time,” he said. “When everybody comes back in town, we hang out and we are bros for life.”
Johnson’s interest in coaching is something that he started to consider that year as a senior in 2011. It’s something, he said, that he wanted to get into right away.
By the summer of 2012, Johnson was a graduate assistant at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
After spending time upstate in Natchitoches and at the University of Kentucky, Johnson found his way back to Baton Rouge in 2014 as a graduate assistant.
Johnson would be at LSU a year before he would be taken under the wing of now current head coach Ed Orgeron. Johnson spent the next year and a half as Orgeron’s assistant in coaching defensive line.
“I love him,” Orgeron said. “He was my GA, a tireless worker, a smart young man, and he loves the Tigers.”
Johnson’s impact wasn’t just felt by Orgeron, but also by now senior defensive tackle Greg Gilmore.
“I would say without Dennis Johnson, I’d probably have transferred somewhere,” Gilmore said. “The days when I wasn’t playing, I wasn’t getting any better, he’d be in the film room making cut ups just for me. He took me under his wing almost. Guys get frustrated with coaching, and it’s hard to learn when you’re frustrated.”
“You really respect who he is, where he came from and you want do things right.”
Gilmore said that the sincerity and the personality of Johnson are some things that have helped him in his career. Just as Johnson mentored Gilmore, the coach found the same guidance under Orgeron.
“Coach O has been tremendous to me,” Johnson said. “When he first got here, I was his graduate assistant, he was the d-line coach, and he took me under his wing. Giving me little nuggets not only about how to be a better coach, but also to be a better man. And people like him, you’re really lucky if you come across someone like that.”
Johnson’s connection with Orgeron is strong enough, that Johnson declined a full-time job as a college football coach after the 2015 season.
Johnson declined the job, and entered the 2016 season – his last season eligible as a graduate assistant – with an uncertain future because he believed in Orgeron and Orgeron believed in him.
“He told me to stick with him, trust him,” Johnson said. “I had learned so much that I just wanted to learn more and become a better coach. That’s the reason why I stayed. He just gave me so many opportunities to better myself as a coach.”
Johnson would get another opportunity when his own college football coach and boss Les Miles was fired on Sept. 25 after a last-second loss to Auburn.
Orgeron would be named the interim head coach, and Johnson was given a promotion to a full-time position as outside linebackers coach.
“We were preparing for Missouri, and they had just scored like 70-something points,” Johnson said when he found out he was named the outside linebackers coach. “I’m back in my cubicle as a GA in my little desk, and we are grinding away because we know we have that potent offense coming to town that Saturday. You’re happy, you’re celebrating, you’re calling your mom and all that stuff, but you got to snap back into it and get to work.”
Johnson would spend the next two and a half months working with Orgeron, Aranda and legendary defensive line coach Pete Jenkins without knowing if they would be brought back for the next season.
“Now that’s the golden opportunity right there,” Johnson said. “I get to be in a meeting room with Coach O, Pete Jenkins, Dave Aranda, Corey Raymond. We are talking about some of the best at what they do, so to be able to get a little of that information and collect it all and apply it, that part is just unreal. I am just really blessed to be a part of that.”
The four coaches would finish the season with a defense ranked No. 16 in the nation, and a known future after Orgeron was named the full-time head coach.
“I have never seen someone come here as a walk-on, play – I have seen some good film of him – then earn a scholarship, became a GA and all of the sudden get a high paying job,” Gilmore said.
Johnson’s high paying job has put him in charge of a position group that includes sixth-year senior Corey Thompson, junior Arden Key and freshman K’Lavon Chaisson.
Thompson and Chaisson combined for six tackles and two sacks against BYU, and Johnson was mentioned by Orgeron in a press conference after the game for the amount of preparation he put in with the group.
“I remember Dennis walked to work for two years because his car broke down and he didn’t have enough money to fix it,” Orgeron said. “I couldn’t wait to name him full time and give him a truck. He’s a great recruiter, he’s a great Tiger, he does a lot of work for Dave Aranda, everybody loves Meatball. He is enthusiastic, I think he has a bright future.”