Breaking Down the ‘Young Rock’ Coach O Impression Part II

It’s been a few weeks since we saw a New Zealander attempt to pull off Coach O on NBC’s Young Rock. I’ve watched every episode since waiting for his return. In the meantime, we got a review of the portrayal from the man himself.

He is RIGHT! This man is SKINNY! You couldn’t at least give him a padded shirt to maintain the illusion?

Last night’s episode exclusively focused on Johnson’s time playing football at the University of Miami, after the last two focused on earlier periods in his life. I knew more Orgeron impressions were on the horizon. I’m one of the few who defended his performance in the Pilot and believed he did the best he could.

I can’t defend this.

Throughout the whole episode he’s too... whispery. You can tell the actor, bless his heart, is focusing so much on trying to get the accent right he’s two octaves too high to properly sound like Orgeron.

There’s a scene earlier at practice where Imposter Orgeron is yelling and it’s very clear that the pitch necessary to pull off a proper impression is just too deep for this poor man to hit.

They’ve also already beaten the chewing coffee joke into the ground several times.

The only other scene we see Imposter Orgeron is when The Rock learns he’s suffered a shoulder injury that will hold him out of his freshman season and for some reason O is wearing a sweater? In Miami in August?

NBC

Thankfully the episode had one more surprise in store— the real Coach O teleconferencing with The Rock and Kenny Smith.

A reminder that this is set in 2032 during The Rock’s Presidential Run (just go with it) implying Coach O is still coaching LSU at age 70. We will revisit this in 11 years.