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Coach Johnson’s Monday Press Conference
8/29/2005
Vanderbilt head football coach Bobby Johnson met with representatives from the media Monday afternoon for his first press conference of the 2005 season. A portion of his comments are available below:
Head Coach Bobby Johnson
(Opening remarks)
Good afternoon. Thanks for coming. We’re at the point where we’re tired of practicing against each other and want to play some real football. That’s the great thing about college football — the preseason doesn’t last that long and you have to get at it and go right to it. We’re anxious for Thursday to get here and see what we can do.
(On Wake Forest’s program)
It’s going to be two hungry teams coming in there Thursday, both wanting to do well right off the bat. They’ll give us some challenges. They run the ball extremely well and I know they’re trying to improve their passing game. They think Benjamin Mauk will be a very good quarterback for them to do that. In high school he threw a lot and he was a record-setter. It’s going to be an interesting game. We’re looking forward to it.
(On Preseason All-SEC QB Jay Cutler)
We’re going to use Jay Cutler to the fullest so that obviously means we’re going to throw the football. But if you sit back and throw the football all the time in the ACC and SEC, where there are great pass rushers and great defensive coordinators who can do things to you if you’re going to be a pass-only team, then your yards per attempt are probably going to go way down. So we’re going to have to run the football — there’s no doubt about it. But the threat of Jay’s passing ability, I think, will allow us to do that better. We’re going to use him to throw it and we’re going to use him as a threat to throw it. And hopefully we can still stay balanced and make people defend everything against us instead of just Jay Cutler.
(On the similarities with WFU)
They have a very fine coach who has come in there and built some confidence. It’s an ACC school, which is an outstanding conference and it’s a school that has the same kind of scholastic ideals we have. I think it’s a great opener. It’s still going to be tough, but we’re looking forward to it. And if we win, it will be a quality win.
Senior LB Moses Osemwegie
(On starting the season)
We’ve been through camp and like a lot of other teams we’re tired of hitting each other. We’re ready to play. Wake Forest will be tough but we’re ready for the challenge.
(On his increased leadership role)
I’ve been trying to encourage the guys, especially the younger guys and help them learn some of the things we’re trying to get accomplished.
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