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Coach Johnson Holds Weekly Press Conference 8/25/2003
Coach Johnson Holds Weekly Press Conference Coach Johnson will address the local Nashville media every Monday at Noon CT of a game week. Click below for a live broadcast of the press conference, archived audio of the press conference, transcript, and game notes for the upcoming game. Coach Johnson’s Press Conference, Monday, August 25, 2003 Opening statement? “We are extremely excited about being in game week. We are looking forward to our matchup with the University of Mississippi this Saturday. I think our guys have worked very hard this preseason and are ready to go.” On Ole Miss QB Eli Manning? “He is a great player. The thing about Eli Manning is that he is so smart on the football field. He rarely makes errors. He rarely throws the ball to the wrong person or to the wrong place. Seldom does he ever put his team in a bad position because of his play. Sometimes you think you can rattle guys, but I don’t think you can rattle him. He’s seen all the stunts and dogs and things that people will throw at them. He knows [the Ole Miss] system and always knows where he wants to throw the ball. That’s a real challenge for our team.” On comparing this year’s matchup with the 2002 meeting? “I hope we don’t give them as many points as we gave them last year. We gave them several easy ones and that was really our undoing in that game. We have to make them work for everything they get. But, at the same time, you just can’t sit back and give Eli Manning all the time in the world to pick you apart. You have to take some chances and try to put a little pressure on him here and there — but he can hurt you when you do that, so it’s a double-edged sword that way.” On the Vanderbilt secondary? “We have some new guys, but overall I think we are a little bit more dependable back there. We’re a little bit more athletic and, I think, a little bit tougher.” On Cheron Thompson’s status? “No, he’s not (ruled out for the game). That’s an amazing story. He passes every test we give him. He runs a little bit more each day. He runs faster each day. He has started making some cuts. We actually had him in some 7-on-7 drills the other day. Cheron is doing remarkably well. We’re going to evaluate him the rest of the week. We don’t want to have a chance of hurting Cheron even more, and that will be our primary concern.” On the comfort level of his second-year program? “It sure helps, having been through a year. When we looked back through the season and evaluated what we did, we felt like we left some games out there. Hopefully, a year’s experience of our team being with this staff will help us do better in those situations. It’s still a tough league and we’re still extremely young. We’re just going out to play football and do the best we can.” On Vanderbilt’s young defense? “That is an awfully young group. But, a lot of those guys did play last year. Herdley Harrison started a lot of games. Of course, Dominique Morris played a bunch. Kelechi Ohanaja played some in backup roles. Andrew Pace was the nickel back last year. Jovan Haye started. Chris Booker started some. Even though they’re only sophomores now, they’re like the old veterans out there. They just get better and better every day. We really have no choice, we’ve gotta play them. Our guys are looking forward to it. You look at Jovan Haye, he just doesn’t seem like a sophomore.” On surprising pre-season performances? “We have been pleasantly surprised by a couple of the freshman. Marlon White is going to be a good receiver for us. He’s tall, he can run, he catches the ball well. Marcus Buggs, on defense, has shown that he has a nose for the football. He knows how to practice and make himself better. Those two guys are the young guys that really showed us that they might be able to play early. And Otis Washington, we are glad to see that he has lived up to previous billing. He was able to do things in pre-season practice that he did on the scout team last year. We’re anxious to see Otis play and see how well he’ll do when they’re shooting real bullets out there.” On winning games instead of having moral victories? “Well, every game is important to win. That’s why we play them and that’s why they keep score. We’re going to try to win every game we play. If we win this one, we will try just as hard to prepare and get ready for Chattanooga as we did for Mississippi. And if we don’t win, we’ll prepare just as hard. It’s a 12-game season and we’re not putting all our eggs in this basket. But our guys know what is at stake. They know what they have been preparing for. I expect them to come out and play their very best — at least their hardest. First games are always full of mistakes, I just want to make sure we play our hardest come Saturday.” On the removal of Dominique Morris’ cast? “He had it taken off after our little workout on Saturday. He’s going to get a revised edition to protect it while he is playing.” On the Vanderbilt offense in year two? “We are excited about our offense. We think we have a lot of weapons. Jay Cutler makes us tick — he can run the football, he can pass it. I think some of Jay’s good plays this year will be when receivers aren’t open and just pulling it down and running sometimes. He’s a threat to do that. We also have the option game that we can go to; power runs; play-action pass. We had, in the first four games last year, openings on the option pass and we never hit it. We’re anxious to get somebody in there who can run the routs, somebody who can deliver the ball, and start making those kind of plays. They were open last year, we just didn’t make them.” On keeping Ole Miss QB Eli Manning off the field? “If I could talk him into staying in the dressing room, I’d do it. That would be a pretty good way to do it.” On the choice to kick or receive if his team wins the toss? “Since being a defensive coordinator and a head coach, I’ve always wanted to put the defense out there first, but we’re going to discuss that.” On the importance of this game for the fans? “It’s an extremely important game and we’re going to treat it as such. We’re just not going to say that the season’s riding on what happens in the Mississippi game. We know how important it is. We’re trying to build a fan base, and certainly winning is more fun to watch. Great players are fun to watch. Heck, we’ve got Eli Manning in here, come on and check him out — 322-GOLD. That’s the number for tickets?.” On Vanderbilt’s special teams? “We are also discussing our strategy as far as that is concerned. We will not try field goals at the distance we tried them last year because we don’t have Greg (Johnson), even though our guys have been extremely accurate from 40-yards and in during pre-season practice. We may consider going for it on fourth down in those situations. We may consider going for it on fourth down instead of pooch punting, because Greg was pretty good at that. Right now, we’re just going to make sure we are as efficient as we can be in the kicking game. Our goal on the punt team is to have a net punting average that was greater than last year. Even though Greg probably kicks it farther than our punters now, we’re going to try to work hard on covering; punt it high; punt it away from people. Just have different ways to counteract the loss.” On competition for starting kickers? “There has been a lot of good competition and its all because they are doing well, not because they are doing badly. So, I’m looking forward to this week, getting the guys out there and testing them a little bit and see who can come through under a little bit of pressure so we can find out who will be able to handle the big pressure on Saturday.” On the running back situation? “It is a great luxury to have Norval (McKenzie) and Ronald Hatcher backing up Kwane (Doster). I’ve always been a guy who likes to play the guy that is doing the best. But, there are a lot of factors that go into it — how fresh he is, how many carries, how he’s feeling that day. So it’s great to have three guys you can count on. We’ve had success will all three of them running the football. We won’t hesitate to use all of them. If Kwane is getting the job done, he’s going to get the bulk of the carries right now.” On what the team has learned from last year’s Ole Miss game? “We had them on their heels after we had made major mistakes that allowed them to win the football game. Hopefully our guys can see that if you execute, which is what I have been trying to tell them since I got here, that you’re going to have a chance to compete and be in the game in the fourth quarter. Then, you never know, maybe we make the big play this year instead of them making it like they did last year.” On Vanderbilt defensive line? “I think the front four is probably the most improved unit on our football team. They’ve had a great pre-season, they’ve taken a lot of pride in what they’re doing and they have a year of experience. We were extremely young there last year. Jovan Haye has learned so much more than he knew last year, just through spring and early fall, that he is almost an entirely different player. So hopefully we’re going to get some pressure out of the front four, but if we can’t, we’ll have to be prepared to bring one or two more. And then you bring the danger of having the big pass against you, so it’s a bit of a do or die thing as far as pressure is concerned.” Jay Cutler, sophomore quarterback On opening with Ole Miss? “It’s a huge first game for us. Everyone wants to win the opener. (Eli) Manning is one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. They have a very quick defense. It will be a challenge.” “It’s the second year for this coaching staff. They expect more this season. We expect more. The first game is very important. We want to get off to a good start.” On having a year of collegiate experience? “We were there at the end of several games last year, but we were young. I was young. We were not prepared to handle fourth quarter comebacks last year like we will be this year.” Kwane Doster, sophomore tailback “Having a year of experience, we certainly know our plays better than we did in the first game last year. Our main objective is to turn this program around in the next few years. I feel that we have a great team with young players and we can get things moving in the right direction if we just work hard.” Jovan Haye, defensive lineman “We don’t really feel like just sophomores. Sophomore is just a title — we’re just football players right now.” “A victory Saturday would be really big for us — to start the season off 1-0 and get that first SEC win. Everybody knows this program will be turned around, it’s just a matter of time. This year would be a good year.” Moses Osemwegie, linebacker “Last year was our first with these coaches, so it took some time for us to learn each other. But this year we are way ahead of where we were last year at this time, so I think we’re going to be okay.” |
