Duke loses offensive line coach Marcus Johnson to Mississippi State

Marcus Johnson is leaving his job as Duke’s offensive line coach to return home to Mississippi but to the opposite side of a fierce rivalry.

A former Ole Miss player, Johnson has accepted the offensive line coaching job at Mississippi State, where he’ll join new Bulldogs head coach Joe Moorhead’s staff. Johnson said his goodbyes to the Duke staff on Friday and has already started in his new role with the SEC school.

Johnson came to Duke in 2011 to work for Blue Devils head coach David Cutcliffe, his college coach at Ole Miss. Johnson became Duke’s offensive line coach in 2016.

After his Ole Miss career, Johnson was the Minnesota Vikings’ second-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. He played four seasons with the Vikings and was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009.

A Coffeyville, Miss., native, Johnson joined Duke’s staff as an assistant with the strength and conditioning staff. Starting in 2013, he spent three seasons as an offensive quality-control coach before taking over the offensive line duties when John Latina retired following the 2015 season.

With Johnson’s departure, Jim Bridge is the natural choice to coach Duke’s offensive line for its Quick Lane Bowl game with Northern Illinois on Dec. 26 at Detroit’s Ford Field. Bridge, Duke’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach, was Purdue’s offensive line coach from 2013-15 before coming to Duke. Bridge also coached N.C. State’s offensive line under Tom O’Brien in 2011-12.

Duke graduate assistant coach Kirk Benedict is available to help with special teams and tight ends while Bridge coaches the offensive line for the bowl game.

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 2:44 PM with the headline "Duke loses offensive line coach Marcus Johnson to Mississippi State."