Coach Johnson Holds Weekly Press Conference

10/20/2003

Coach Johnson Holds Weekly Press Conference

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

Game Notes | Archived Audio of press conference

Bobby Johnson Press Conference in preparation for <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>South Carolina

Monday, October 20, 2003

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Coach Johnson’s Opening statement?

“We have another big challenge this week, going on the road to South Carolina — a very tough place to play. I’m sure they’re going to be in a very bad mood after their game against LSU, and they’re going to try to play much better. Our guys are looking forward to it, after a disappointing loss to Georgia. We think we can get better and we’re going to try to do that this week.”

On reading stories about Vanderbilt?

“We try not to worry about what other people are thinking and just go out and try to get better every week. I was really proud of our effort this past week against Georgia because our guys were coming off a tough game and we had a lot of people hurt and some sick. We had guys playing with the flu, or with sprained ankles — all kinds of the bumps and bruises you have at this time of year. They went out and played hard under those circumstances. I can’t complain about our effort.”

On Vanderbilt’s improvement from last season?

“Comparing the two teams — watching them practice, their work habits, how we react in games, how we make plays — I feel we are much better. I even got our freshmen together, the ones that weren’t here last year, and I said, ‘Guys, I know it is tough going right now, but you all don’t know how much better this team is then we were last year, and we’re going to continue to get better.’ And they’re going to be a big part of that. Right now, our best players are our younger players. We’ll continue to get players in here and get better every year.”

On Vanderbilt’s youth?

“At one time, I think we had 10 sophomore starters on defense — that’s extremely tough to do. A few juniors have worked their way in there and started some games. The SEC is an extremely tough league. Things happen so fast out on the field, that without experience it is pretty tough to prepare guys for that. I think the more those guys have played, the more they have developed. Guys like Kevin Joyce are starting to make contributions to this team. This is the first year Kelechi Ohanaja has started, and as a safety he continues to get better. Our offensive line has had two freshmen starting several games. It’s a situation where those guys will get better and better. We just need to give them some help.”

On returning to his hometown of Columbia, S.C?

“We’re going to be kind of busy. It’s going to be good to go back to Columbia. I still have a lot of friends and family there, and they will be at the game. I had a great life there. It was a fun place to grow up.”

On South Carolina’s recent turnaround under Coach Lou Holtz?

“(Coach Holtz) did it was the way we want to try and do it here. He went down there and developed some pride in the program. He improved fundamentals. He got a consistent recruiting organization going, where he had people coming in every year and younger players taking older players places. It’s different circumstances, but that is a great model. The main thing is establishing pride in that program. Everybody who ever lived in South Carolina and watched them, or played or coached against them, was just waiting for somebody to come in and do that. It’s a great fan base. You have great facilities. The whole state supports them, except for the Clemson people. It was a good place waiting to happen and he took advantage of it.”

On South Carolina quarterback Dondrial Pinkins and tailback Demetris Summers?

“They are great athletes, number one. Both of those guys can make things happen. Pinkins has a great arm. He’s done damage against a lot of teams. But he’s also a big guy that can run. They get the quarterback draw and those kind of things working. He’s tough to defend, first of all, then it’s tough to actually tackle him. Demetris Summers’ his high school record speaks for itself, and he didn’t take long to get started in college either. That’s one thing Coach Holtz can do, recognize talent, and he’s getting him the ball. [Summers] is a good player. We’ll have to watch him closely. He’s got a great knack for making people miss — I don’t know what it is, it is hard to describe. But you see on film that people just have a hard time tackling him.”

On punter Abtin Iranmanesh?

“It’s a great story. Before this year, he had never punted before in a game. Last year he was vying for the place kicking job, but Greg Johnson won that job. Ponch (Iranmanesh’s nickname) didn’t give up, he kept working. He came back this summer and I asked him if he’d ever punted, and he said, ‘Yeah, I can punt.’ I thanked him for telling me, after letting me suffer all summer. He just kept working on it and working on it. He has a very strong and live leg, but punting is a lot of technique and a lot of study, so he did a great job of developing that skill. He gets better and better every week. He’s meant a lot to this football team. Now he’s kicking off, also, and he’s kicked a great percentage of his kickoffs into the end zone. That certainly helps your kick coverage a whole lot. He’s done a great job for us. He had a great game (against Georgia). He hit one out of the 4-yard line. He hit one that landed on the half yard line and backed up to the 2-yard line. He kicked an 80-yard punt. He kicked one off into the end zone. If we could get every player performing like that we would be in good position.”

On backup quarterback Steven Bright?

“I think we are going to try and get him in more just to give Jay (Cutler) a breath. It’s tough to go out there every series. He gets chased around a lot and we run the option. I think it will be good to get Steven in there. It’s good intentions, but sometimes when a game gets tight and you feel like you should keep your best players in there when you have a chance to win. I think that is a mistake that I have made, and that a lot of coaches make. If you would substitute a little more earlier in the game, then your players are going to be fresher at the end of the game when you have a chance to win. (Before the Georgia game) Coach Kiser, Coach Cain and I talked about it, and we wanted to get Steven in there. We’re glad he got the opportunity. Steven is a good player. He’s a big guy. He’s 230 pounds. You saw him drag the Georgia players a couple times. He also has a strong arm. And Steven has a presence about him — he’s comfortable out there on the field. He’s not afraid to make a play.”

Comparing South Carolina to Georgia?

“The difference between Georgia, the No. 4 team, and South Carolina is really pretty small. They both have some outstanding athletes. Georgia has some players here and there. They have a playmaker on defense. They have a fantastically steady quarterback. Just a few ingredients make Georgia the No. 4 team over a team like South Carolina. So it is not going to be, ‘Alright, guys, we played No. 4 great, we’re just going to go in and walk over South Carolina.’ They are a very good football team. We play in a tough league. LSU is one of the best teams in the country. A lot of teams have had the same kind of trouble with LSU that South Carolina had.”

On gaining confidence from the performance against Georgia?

At times, we have played extremely well. We have some guys who can make some plays — Jovan Haye, Moses (Osemwegie) and Otis Washington have been making plays for us. We want them to be confident that if we play well we can play with those teams. Right now, it’s hard for us to sustain that without having some offensive success. With the lack of an explosive player, we are forced to grind things out. That’s tough to do against a team like Georgia. We had some fairly good drives going, made some first downs. We had the ball inside the 30 one time and couldn’t make it happen. The Georgia defense had a lot to do with that. They are very good on defense.”

On Vanderbilt’s league-low penalty totals?

“I hope it is that we are getting smarter as we get older. But I think we were the least penalized team last year, too. It is an emphasis of the coaching staff — we want to make sure we’re not helping out the other team. We’ve had some things happen to us in games this year, and I’ve been proud of our guys for not overreacting. We want to do the right thing, number one, and we certainly don’t want to help the other team, number two.”

On last year’s South Carolina game?

“I think they threw two balls over our heads for long touchdown passes. That’s the choice they give you sometimes when they go to their spread package. Do you want to put people close to the line of scrimmage to stop runs by the tailback and the quarterback, or do you want to cover in a nice, safe zone and not have them throw it over your head. That’s the dilemma they present to you. For most of the game, we played it pretty well. For a couple of plays, they hurt us. I think they had one of those touchdowns right before the half and that was pretty demoralizing.”