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Temple DC Taver Johnson: 'Expect A Relentless Defense'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Taver Johnson is settling in as the new defensive coordinator for the Temple University football team.

Taver Johnson
Taver Johnson is Temple's new defensive coordinator. (Photo credit: Temple University Athletics)

Johnson was hired by new head coach Geoff Collins last month after three years as the defensive backs coach at Purdue. He takes over as coordinator for Phil Snow who joined former head coach Matt Rhule at Baylor.

Johnson is happy to now be calling North Broad Street home.

"Coach Collins, obviously, he's the #1 reason why I was able to get here to Philadelphia," Johnson tells KYW Newsradio. "Known him a few years and knowing what he stands for with everything that he wants to do with our young people as well as the city, I thought it was definitely going to be an exciting time for my family and I to help out."

Listen to the entire interview with Temple defensive coordinator Taver Johnson:

 

Johnson talks about his main focus once he accepted the job.

"It was recruiting," he says. "Because we all got here as a staff, said hello, shook each other's hand and then we were off for about three weeks. That was the first and foremost thing, making sure that we were able to get the class that we have, that we're excited about. Then it's getting around our players, getting a chance to know our players individually, collectively, offense, defense, everyone, as well as everyone in the program and the organization. Because it's all about the people that you're going to be with and the people that are going to make the ship go."

Johnson is taking over a Temple defense that has enjoyed a lot of success over the last couple of years. He talks about what fans can expect out of his unit.

"Everyone can expect a defense that's going to be relentless," Johnson says. "We're going to play extremely, extremely hard and we're just going to be out there and be a bunch of guys that love to play the game. That's the one thing that everyone will be able to hang their hat on and really understand that our guys are going to play the game the way its supposed to be played, nice and clean and definitely with a reckless abandon to us. So it's going to be fun to watch. Whether we're blitzing, whether we're covering, whether we're getting off blocks, there's going to be 11 of us at the ball at all times. We want offenses to feel like we've got about 15 or 16 guys out there at a time."

In addition to his time at Purdue, Johnson resume also includes stints at Arkansas (defensive backs coach), Ohio State (defensive backs coach) and Miami (OH) (defensive coordinator).

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