University of Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham wasn’t wrong when he believed a 23 year-old Brian Johnson was a future coaching star. Back in 2010-13 the timing just wasn’t right, as the former Ute legend was only a year removed from his Sugar Bowl MVP performance. After leaving Utah, Johnson would soon go on to Mississippi State and quickly make his mark as a quarterback guru.

After successful stops at Mississippi State, Houston, and Florida as quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at the latter two, the Philadelphia Eagles are hoping he brings his magic to town as the new quarterbacks coach, to either unleash Jalen Hurts’ full potential or revive Carson Wentz’s once promising career.

In recent weeks Johnson was connected to the head coaching searches at schools like Boise State and South Carolina, what UteNation can confirm is that there were many more schools than those two who showed interest, as he has maintained a busy interview schedule since the Florida Gators’ season ended. Before accepting the Eagles job, at least one additional NFL team expressed their interest, but the Philadelphia offer came first and was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

This latest move should likely put Johnson on a blazing fast track to an NFL offensive coordinator role or make him a much more highly-coveted head coaching candidate at the NCAA level.

In recent years, Johnson has taken three-star Dak Prescott and two-star Kyle Trask and developed them into All-American and Heisman level quarterbacks. He’s also been praised for his work with D’Eriq King, a former three-star recruit at Houston, who transferred and started this last season at the University of Miami.

Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley still remains the front-runner to being Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham’s eventual successor. However, Johnson’s promotion to the NFL and quick ascension into a coaching star, should make him a much more serious name to eventually pay attention to.