Why a healthy Cedric Johnson could be the key to Ole Miss football's defensive transition

OXFORD — The Ole Miss football defensive line has been heavily reinforced via the transfer portal, with four offseason additions joining the Rebels. But their biggest boost at the position might come from within.
Cedric Johnson declared himself 100% when speaking to reporters last week at SEC Media Days. The experienced defensive end missed two of Ole Miss' final seven games, and played more than 50% of the team's defensive snaps just once in that stretch as he dealt with an undisclosed injury.
The Rebels went 2-5 when Johnson was either limited or unavailable. They surrendered 14.5 points per game before the injury sidelined Johnson against Auburn and 35 points per game afterward. The biggest factor was no doubt the schedule. LSU, Texas Tech, Alabama and Arkansas were always going to score more points than Troy, Central Arkansas, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt. But perhaps the impact of Johnson's limitations down the stretch has been undersold in the months-long scramble to explain what ailed the Rebels late last year.
"Mentally, it just had me down a little," Johnson said. "It sucks to see that I couldn't provide as much value as I usually could because of my injuries, but I'm looking forward to doing a lot more this year."
Johnson still led Ole Miss in quarterback hurries last season with 22, according to Pro Football Focus. Pressuring the quarterback on 14.7% of his pass rush snaps, Johnson would not be out of place among the SEC's top pass rushers.
There were 11 players in the SEC last season with six or more sacks. In terms of converting pass rush snaps into quarterback pressures, Johnson was more efficient than seven of them.
That is not to suggest that the Rebels have a sure-fire 10-sack player on their hands, though Johnson might not shy away from such an implication. In the spring of 2022, he said his expectations were to be better than Sam Williams, who set a school record with 12.5 sacks in 2021.
"That's really the same goal and I'm always thinking higher, honestly," Johnson said. "It's just whatever the team needs, doing whatever I can most for the team."
Johnson should have help.
James Madison transfer Isaac Ukwu registered 7.5 sacks on his way to first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors last season. Returnees Khari Koleman and Jared Ivey each brought down opposing quarterbacks 4.5 times last season, too.
MORE FOOTBALL COVERAGE: Ole Miss football 'gave up' in 2022, one Rebel says. How Lane Kiffin can prevent that in 2023
Ole Miss will plug that production into new coordinator Pete Golding's defense, which had been top 10 in the country in sacks per game in each of the last two seasons.
The next hurdle for Johnson is mastering Golding's schemes and terminology, something he says will happen when a rigorous preseason meeting schedule starts next week.
"We got a lotta depth, a lot of guys that can play," said Johnson. "It's going to be a fun year for all of us. We're gonna be able to fly to the ball. We're not gonna be super tired in games. It's gonna be fun."