Coach Johnson Holds Weekly Press Conference

9/1/2003

Coach Johnson Holds Weekly Press Conference 9-1-03

Coach Johnson will address the local Nashville media every Monday at Noon CT of a game week. Click below for archived audio of the press conference, transcript, and game notes for the upcoming game.

Game Notes | Archive of press conference

Transcript

Coach Johnson’s Press Conference, Monday, September 1, 2003

Vanderbilt prepares for Chattanooga

Opening statement?

“Well, the story hasn’t changed since Saturday — we’re still disappointed that we didn’t win the football game. [Ole Miss] made some big plays in the fourth quarter to come back from being behind. We’ll continue to work and try to get better. This is an important game for us this week against Chattanooga. We don’t know a lot about them — they have a new coach, new coordinators. We’re studying the one game film that we do have. And on Saturday we’ll be ready to come out and have a good game.”

On problems in the VU kicking game vs. Ole Miss?

“We always have a little contest between the other team in the kicking game, and we won all phases of the kicking game except for placements. We had a better kickoff return average; we had a better punt return average; we had a better kickoff average. [Ole Miss] hit three field goals and we missed our one. Overall, I was pretty pleased. We dropped a punt snap, but the blinding speed that “Ponch” (kicker Abtin Iranmanesh) showed got us a first down. That’s pretty daring to fake one that close to your own end zone — don’t call me conservative anymore. Certainly we do have some things we have to work out with our placements. I was really pleased with the way they did in the preseason. I think it was just a case of being out there for the first time and changing the motion of what he did in practice to what he did in the game. I went home and watched a bunch of football Saturday night and I saw a bunch of people missing. But [competition for starting spots] is open every week — every position. We’re looking for guys who want to get out there and get better.”

On the effect of an uncertain kicking game?

“We were prepared the other day to go for it. We went for fourth-and-2 and threw it to Matt Tant in the flat and got a first down. Going into the game, even though they were kicking well in pre-season, we thought our range was shorter than it was last year, so we were prepared to do some things differently once we got inside the 50. Certainly going for it on fourth down is an option for us. I think we can also be pretty good at pooching and trying to down it inside the 10, so that will also be an option for us.”

On the play of cornerback Dominique Morris?

“Dominique is really a good player for us. He has a lot of talent. He’s got great feet. I think he’s starting to realize how good he can be. He’s working hard in practice. I think that Dominique can play with anybody in this league, so hopefully he will continue to get better and better as we go along and have the kind of a year we expect from him.”

On utilizing the corner blitz vs. Ole Miss?

“That is part of our package. We thought we could get through — at least try it. Lorenzo Parker did a good job of disguising, our entire secondary did a good job of disguising all day. We caught him unaware and obviously Eli [Manning] didn’t see Lorenzo coming. I just wish he could have gotten the fumble. They fumbled five times and we only got one. We need to be more alert. I think we might have relaxed a little bit when they saw him go down, and we just want everybody trying to get the ball. We were trying to create more turnovers. We created fumbles, but we didn’t recover them.”

On the injury situation?

“We’re in pretty good shape. No major injuries. We had some guys who were hurting because of the weather and the amount of plays they had to play. We talked about that as a staff, and we need to do a little bit better job of substituting. We don’t have to do it en masse, but you need to mix some younger guys in with some older guys, and also get your first guys some rest. The pressure of the game probably caused us to cramp up a little, too.”

On VU’s depth and the use of true freshmen?

“We probably will have to (use more true freshmen) over the year, because of injuries and situations like that. But right now, when you get in a close game, it’s hard to make yourself do it. You have to plan for it. Spontaneously, you’re not going to take one of your best players out of the secondary in a tough situation. You make yourself do it when you get some control in the game, maybe do it earlier, and then people will be fresher in the fourth quarter.”

On Vanderbilt mistakes against Ole Miss?

“We fumbled a snap. It was us. We missed a field goal. We threw an interception, we didn’t pick up a blitz read. I guess it was a little bit of a bad play on our part, but a good play on their part. The guy made a great play on the interception, I thought. But we could’ve had a bigger lead, maybe two more touchdowns.”

On whether or not he worries about a letdown after the Ole Miss game?

“I worry about everything. But I don’t think our guys will do that. I think they were extremely disappointed that they didn’t win. They’re hungry for a win. We had a great practice yesterday. Guys who were cramping up Saturday came out yesterday and worked hard. I was very pleased with the way they came back. That’s what you’ve got to do. It’s hard to do, especially when you lose one like that. But you’ve got to always treat the next game as the most important. It’s our only chance this week to get a win.”

On playing against I-AA opponents (like Chattanooga)?

“I think there is a place for it. I think if you have some kind of connection between the teams. We certainly had that last year (when Vanderbilt hosted Johnson’s former team, Furman). Chattanooga is in the state of Tennessee. Hopefully we can attract some fans from that area to come up here. But not just to play a I-AA team. I don’t think we are looking in that direction. I think we’re looking to play teams that are a lot like Vanderbilt, academically-oriented schools, and I think our scheduling will reflect that later on.”

On VU’s option game?

“Ole Miss was determined to take a lot of the option away. But we did a pretty good job on a couple of them. We got Kwane (Doster) out there a little ways. We had a couple of options that worked well.”

On VU’s passing game?

“I was very pleased with the passing game. I felt that Jay (Cutler) did a good job of reading what was available, hitting people in the flat. We did a pretty good job of catching the ball in certain areas and making first downs after that — Chris Young, especially. We threw the ball deep. Erik Davis had a great day. I think we executed everything we wanted to do in the passing game. Even the short yardage, with Matt Tant and some goal line routes, worked well. We knew Jay was a very good quarterback and I think he proved it Saturday.”

On Benji Walker and his 50-yard touchdown pass?

“Benji is a very good quarterback. I tell you, if we didn’t have Jay Cutler we would be really fired up about having Benji play for us. Benji is a veteran, a fifth-year guy, you can count on him. We saw Jay was starting to cramp up a little bit, so we had Benji warming up on the sideline. He didn’t bat an eye — he just goes and makes a great fake on the short route and Erik did his thing. It was great execution and a great call by Coach Cain — he looked like a genius.”

On VU’s conditioning in the extreme heat?

“It was hot. I was hot. It was tough. Coach John Sisk, our strength and conditioning coach, did a great job with the guys that stayed here this summer. They prepared hard. We probably could have helped them with some substitutions.”

On individual injury updates?

“Robert (Dinwiddie) played and we were very pleased with his performance. He went in there, not having practiced very much, and that was a good sign for us, especially because defensive end is not our deepest spot.”

“Clark Lea wasn’t looking great yesterday. He’s progressed, but ankle injuries are just frustrating.”

“Cheron (Thompson) did well. We’re still going on with plan “B” here, and we’ll keep him in.”

On the heightened role of tight ends?

“[Ole Miss] was doing certain things, bringing some people that vacated zones. Our tight ends did a great job of reading that and we got a couple of quick throws to them. We like to throw to the tight ends, we have for years and years, and we’ll continue to do that.”

On the goals, other than winning, for this week’s game against Chattanooga?

“We want to get better. We want to make sure we eliminate errors, as we had some costly penalties. We want to improve the kicking game. We just want to make the whole football team a lot better. Since we don’t have a lot of information about Chattanooga, we want to make sure that we execute better and get better as a team. Not worry so much about what Chattanooga does on offense or defense, but run our plays and execute our defenses and see if we can get better and stronger.”

On reading Sunday’s newspaper articles about the team’s improvement?

“It’s hard to get pumped up after losing a game that you thought you should have won. We want people talking about us after the season is over. We want them talking about how we have improved our record. But I think we’re better — our attitude, our work ethic is better. We’re just getting started.”

On improvement from last season?

“I knew we were going to be a better football team, because I know my coaching staff and what they going to get out of guys. I really like our football team this year. They’re battlers and they continue to try to get better in practice. We’re making progress, and we’re not very patient. We want to have it now. The fans, and all our people, want to have it now. And I’m at the top of that list.”

On the play of cornerback Bill Alford?

“He did well. Bill played a bunch. He played on all special teams. He played corner, he played nickel back. He was very effective. We were very pleased with Bill’s performance.”

Vanderbilt Player Quotes — Monday, Sept. 1<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

Erik Davis, WR

On his first start: “It was an unbelievable feeling to get out there and play. I got a chance to prove myself.”

On playing in the warm weather conditions: “It was hard. We knew we had to stay hydrated. A lot of people were getting IVs. You have to fight through it. It wasn’t the reason we lost the game though. We just didn’t execute enough.”

Reasons for not having a larger halftime lead: “It all happened in the red zone. We had fumbles. We didn’t execute. Bad things will happen. We just have to prepare and learn to overcome them.”

On weekend newspaper articles declaring the VU program improving from years past: “This is a different Vanderbilt. It’s a different feeling (around the program). We knew we could win the game. We didn’t execute, which may cause some people to say, ‘this is the same old Vanderbilt,’ but things are different. It comes from the heart. We have camaraderie. Everyone plays together as a team. The coaches work hard to give us a game plan and keep us upbeat.”

On this week’s opponent, <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Chattanooga: “We’re taking everyone seriously. We don’t take anyone for granted. We have to be ready. We have to go out, execute, and win the game.”

Jay Cutler, QB

Reasons for not having a larger halftime lead: “We drive the ball up and down the field, get to the 20 yard line and fumble the ball. Then the interception in the end zone. There’s a potential 14 points down the drain. It’s good though to drive down the field and see the game plan work.”

On not being able to move the ball in the 4^th quarter with a 21-14 lead: “If we are able to move the chains and score a touchdown or a field goal, we get the win. We did some bad things though that prevented that from happening.”

On Vanderbilt’s receiving corps: “Erik Davis, Brandon Smith and all of the guys are going to make things happen. We lost some talented receivers from last year but they are upcoming stars who are going to contribute a lot to the university in the coming years.”

Otis Washington, MLB

On seeing his first action as a college player: “It was exciting. I was happy that my mom and dad were able to make the trip and get to see my first game. It was exciting just being part of the game, part of the team.”

On preparing for upcoming opponent Chattanooga: “You can’t look beyond any opponent. This is football. You have to prepare the same way, with the same intensity, whoever you are playing. Chattanooga will be a very tough opponent.”