Oct. 13, 2008
MONDAY PRESS CONFERENCE COVERAGE All Access: Watch Monday’s Press Conference
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More Quotes: Players Comment on UGA Matchup
Head Coach Bobby Johnson
Quotes from Weekly Press Conference
Monday, October 13, 2008
Georgia Game
Opening Statement:
“Well obviously it was a very tough loss for us last Saturday against Mississippi State. As we know, this a long, tough season. When you play in the SEC, a lot of things can happen. We didn’t help ourselves in a lot of ways against Mississippi State, especially with the mistakes that we made. It’s important that we learn from our mistakes and put that game behind us. We need to get ready for Georgia because they are an awfully good football team. Georgia has so many players that can make big plays and it will be challenge for us. I think our guys will come back and work hard and will have the right attitude in practice this week. That’s all we can ask them to do. We’ll be ready to play.”
On midseason coaching changes:
“I am totally against them. I think its unfortunate when it happens but we all know what the business is like. People scrutinize every little aspect of your program and the fans expect a lot in which they should. It’s just something that happens now so nothing really surprises me when I hear about coaching changes during the season.”
On how much parity has affected the SEC standings:
“Well I think parity has got a lot to do with it obviously. In the way the game has evolved, I think it’s just harder for schools to out muscle and out man you. For example, 15 to 20 years ago some teams didn’t even have a chance to win against some of the top tier teams because they were bigger, stronger and faster than their opponent, and I think that has evened out. Now that teams have a better chance to matchup with them in talent, you know a break here or there could mean the game could go either way. People are starting to win games that they haven’t won in the past. It has been proven that the top teams in every conference can be beat. You hear of more upsets now than you used to that’s for sure.”
On if he saw anything that might have concerned him in the team’s preparation:
“No. I thought our team practiced well last week and that they had a good attitude going into the game. Our guys were very attentive and they stayed focused on Mississippi State during practice. Like I said, it’s a tough league and things happen in football. The game is played and coached by human beings that make mistakes. In the game of football, it is hard to be perfect every single game. Last Saturday we weren’t perfect by any means but we still had a chance to win the game, so that’s the upsetting thing. We felt like we should have won the game.”
On if the upcoming schedule looks daunting:
“Well they don’t look easy, but weren’t not daunted by it. You look at the first games we played this year and you could say the same thing about them. You just have to play each one of them and see how they go. We’ve got some playmakers that can make some things happen and we’re playing fairly well on defense, and our kicking game has been good, so all those things will have to work for us to have a chance to beat great programs. We feel like we can get it done.”
On the quarterback situation:
“We are probably going to go ahead and make a change with Mackenzi (Adams) and Chris (Nickson). Mackenzi will practice with the first group this week and he will get the majority of the reps this week. In being said, that means he will play Saturday unless something very unusual happens in practice, but I don’t anticipate that. A lot of the things that went wrong last Saturday in the first half weren’t particularly Chris Nickson’s fault. But at the same time, when the offense wasn’t doing much in the third quarter, our coaching staff felt like we had to make a change. Mackenzi came in and did a good job for us against Mississippi State, so we’re going to see what he can do with it against Georgia. He is a motivating young man who is a go-getter so we think he will provide a spark for us. Hopefully we can get things going on offense because we weren’t very good last Saturday.”
On how Mackenzi handled the news he was going to be a backup to start the year:
“He took it just the way you would expect Mackenzi Adams too. He took it as an opportunity that he needed to continue to work hard in practice. He continued to battle. Chris (Nickson) played a great game against Miami (Ohio) and he was sailing away, but Mackenzi continued to work hard. Our staff knew the whole time that he would be ready to go when we called on him because he is just that kind of kid. We expect the same thing out of Chris now. Anytime you do as much with the quarterback as our offense does, you have to have someone ready to step in there. I am sure that Chris wants to play and I am sure he feels that he can do anything that we will ask him to do right now. Chris will be out there in practice working hard helping our team.”
On what Mackenzi brings to the team as a starter:
“I think he will bring a fresh start to the team. I think Mackenzi has demonstrated that he can sit in the pocket and that he can figure things out there on the field. He can find the open receivers and he can do a good job of hitting the receivers. I don’t think there is a big drop off when you start running quarterback draws and options between our two quarterbacks. Mackenzi is a good athlete and he has shown that he can make some very fine runs this year.”
On winning at Georgia in 2006:
“It wasn’t or first big road win. Obviously we had won at Arkansas and Tennessee, but it was without Jay Cutler, so that proved that it wasn’t just one person that was getting the wins for us. They have all been tough places to play and we won a lot of those games under great duress. I think our team has gotten used to playing in big atmospheres and they know that if we execute the way we know we can, we will have a chance to win on the road.”