Defensive ends coach Johnny Jernigan begins his second season with the Eagles in 2015 and fifth-straight season working with Head Coach Willie Fritz.
Jernigan was a part of the Eagles’ staff which won the Sun Belt Championship in 2014 as the program made the jump to FBS. In his first season, the Eagles ranked 49th in rushing defense in the FBS and third in the Sun Belt.
Before joining the Eagles, Jernigan worked four seasons at Sam Houston State and joined the program in 2010. The Bearkats’ rushing defense vaulted from 86th to eighth nationally, allowing 100 only rushing yards per game, an average of 69.82 yards less than the previous year.
That impressive average would fall again as the Sam Houston State won the 2011 FCS statistical title with the best defense of the run. The Bearkats allowed only 72.9 yards per game, an average second only to Alabama in the NCAA Division I rankings. The dominating defense during Sam Houston’s 2011 Southland Conference championship season and NCAA title run was second in the country in scoring defense and turnover margin, third in total defense and fourth in pass efficiency defense.
Again in 2012, as Sam Houston State won back-to-back Southland Conference titles and advanced to the NCAA championship game for the second-straight year, Jernigan’s defensive line helped place the Bearkats among the national leaders in total defense, scoring defense and turnover margin. Sam Houston State posted a final ranking of sixth in rush defense (98.53 yards per game) and tied for fifth in quarterback sacks with 38 that season.
In the league, the Bearkats held the No. 1 spot in 11 different defensive categories over the last three seasons. Evidence of the commanding defense line play, Sam Houston State has ranked first in rushing defense for four straight years (2010-2013) with no other Southland Conference team coming close to that streak in the last 10 seasons.
Jernigan coached three Bearkat linemen who would earn postseason accolades for their performances with J.T. Cleveland and Andrew Weaver both receiving All-America recognition. Cleveland, a All-Southland Conference selection three times in his career, would be included as a Phil Steele Publications All-American in 2011. Gary Lorance joined Cleveland as an All-SLC honoree in 2011 and 2012.
Andrew Weaver led Sam Houston State with the most tackles by a lineman with 44 and was credited with a team-best seven sacks in 2013. His 8.5 tackles for loss were second on the team and he also forced two fumbles. With 17 career sacks, he stands third on the Bearkats’ all-time list. An All-SLC honoree as a senior, he was named to the Associated Press’ All-America third team.
Jernigan spent time at two Ohio Valley Conference institutions and coached a year at Henderson State before his appointment to Sam Houston State. At Murray State from 2006-2009, he helped the Racers’ defense make significant improvements in their statistical standings as they moved to a No. 2 ranking in total defense, and to third in both rush and pass defense in 2008.
Included among the Murray State players Jernigan coached was two-time All-America defensive end and OVC Defensive Player of the Year Austen Lane. Twice selected to the OVC All-Conference first team, Lane set Murray State’s single-season record and career records for sacks and tackles for loss. He became the Racers’ highest-ever NFL draft pick, selected in the fifth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2010.
At Tennessee-Martin for five years, Jernigan was the Skyhawks’ defensive line coach and served as the team’s interim head coach for its final four games of the 2002 season. In 2005, UT-Martin led the OVC in total defense and ranked second in pass defense.
Jernigan’s defensive lines in both 2003 and 2005 made their mark in the Skyhawk record book by posting two of the top-10 season sack totals. Defensive end Andre Plummer topped the annual list of leaders for 2003 in the individual sack category and by the end of his career, tied for the second-highest UT-Martin total with 15.0.
A coaching opportunity after graduation brought Jernigan to Kilgore College where he would begin his coaching career. Jernigan served as the Rangers’ defensive line coach from 1994 until 1999. During those six seasons, the Kilgore defense claimed either second or third in the conference in total defense.
Derrick Pickens, one of Jernigan’s players, became the first Kilgore defensive lineman to earn All-America honors and was named the Southwest Junior College Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He led the SWJCFC in tackles for loss and registered a league-best nine sacks in 1999. He signed with Iowa and started 22 games for the Hawkeyes over two seasons, earning Big Ten honors and was named the 2001 Alamo Bowl Defensive MVP.
A first-team All-Texas Junior College Football Conference defensive end at Tyler Junior College, Jernigan earned an associate of arts degree in health and physical education in 1992 and continued his collegiate career at Stephen F. Austin.
As a senior at SFA in 1993, Jernigan was a member of the Lumberjack team that secured a bid to the NCAA FCS playoffs and No. 14 final national ranking. The two-time letterwinner was a preseason second-team All-Southland Conference selection in 1993 after a solid effort in 1992 with 45 tackles and two sacks for All-SLC honorable mention laurels. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in kinesiology from Stephen F. Austin in 1994.
Jernigan was a defensive tackle on the 1988 Navasota High School defense that was a major factor in the Rattlers’ trip to the state finals that year. He and his wife LaShunta have two sons, Davon, who was a member of Navasota’s 2012 and 2014 State Championship Teams, and Amontae.
