Oct. 8, 2007
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Head Coach Bobby Johnson
Weekly Press Conference
Vanderbilt-Georgia week – October 8, 2007
Coach Johnson’s opening statement…
“Obviously it was a really tough weekend for us. We’re going to try to learn from that and put it behind us and move on to Georgia, which is a very important game. It’s homecoming here at Vanderbilt. We’re looking forward to getting back to practice and get ready for the Bulldogs coming to town.”
On the Auburn game…
“Auburn played extremely well and we didn’t play well at all. That was probably because they were playing pretty well. There’s some things we can correct, I know that. Call it an aberration, I don’t know. We didn’t answer the call as well as we thought we would and Auburn played very well on top of that. Sometimes those games just happen. It happened to a lot of people this past Saturday, not just us.”
On possibly making a change at quarterback…
“We’ll see who’s playing the best and who’s practicing the best. That’s usually the case all year at every position. It’s harder to make a quarterback change than other positions because (quarterback) has so much preparation involved during the week. You want to have a guy who you say is your starter so you can get him more reps than the backup guy. It’ll be a priority to try to decide what we’re going to do there, but we’re not going to rush that decision either. It’s an extremely important decision for our team. We’re going to give it as much scrutiny as we can. I still think both players are good players. Chris Nickson has played wonderfully for us at quarterback before and he will do it again.”
On the similarities between Chris Nickson and Mackenzi Adams…
“I think they’re very similar. I think Mackenzi is just as mobile as Chris and Chris can throw it just as well as Mackenzi. I think they’re a lot alike, which is a very good thing for you. If somebody’s not on par and are having a bad day, you don’t really have to change your game plan. It can continue on as it has before. That really helps all your other players and it helps your coaches continue to make the calls during the game. If you had a mobile quarterback or one that you’re running a zone read or options with and you bring in one that’s totally different, it’s harder to keep things consistent.”
On Earl Bennett potentially breaking the all-time SEC receptions record…
“I think it’s extremely tough if you look at the list of people who are ahead of him and those he has passed. I think it’s a pretty monumental achievement in two and a half years.”
On defensive adjustments against Chris Nickson…
“We haven’t noticed anything really different than what we’ve seen. When you have a one-back set, there are really only so many ways that a defense can line up. They can bring people and do that kind of stuff. They can either bring four, five or six. It’s hard to bring seven because somebody’s open if you can find them. You just have to be prepared. I don’t think it’s a big change.”
On the team bouncing back after the loss to Auburn…
“We played very poorly against Alabama and came back and played very well against Mississippi. I expect them to bounce back. We had a very good practice for a Sunday practice yesterday. We’ve already had some guys come by on their day off, watching film on their own. Our guys want to be good. They want to win and they’re going to work. Work ethic is not the problem.”
On Georgia’s running backs…
“I am really impressed with (Knowshon) Moreno. I think he’s an outstanding player. He runs hard, he blocks hard. He’s playing every play right down to the echo of the whistle. I’m very impressed. (Kregg) Lumpkin is a very fine back. I don’t think they’re going to have a shortage of running backs. Thomas Brown is obviously a good player and they’ll miss him. He’s had some tough luck. They have some good players.”
