Paul Johnson Weekly Press Conference - Sept. 4, 2018
Paul Johnson Weekly Press Conference – Sept. 4, 2018 (pre-USF)
Opening statement:
“Well, I think any time that you get out of the first game with a win and pretty much injury-free is a positive. Certainly there are a lot of things we can build on from a week ago on both sides of the ball and on special teams. All in all, it’s easier to correct all that stuff when you win than it would be if you lose.”
On familiarity with USF’s coaching staff:
“I think BJ [Brian Jean-Mary, former GT assistant coach and current USF defensive coordinator] is a good coach and he does a good job and I’ve played against Charlie [Strong] before, when we were both coordinators. They’re going to do their thing and we’re going to do ours. The players will determine what happens.”
On what could improve on offense after Saturday’s game:
“I think it’s more about awareness and mental mistakes than any other. I still wasn’t happy with them after I watched the tape. We’ve got guys who’ve played over there it’s ridiculous. I mean even on plays we scored on, just like on Jordan’s [Mason] first touchdown in the third play of the game, we block it wrong. We kill the guy so bad that we double team and it really didn’t matter. It’s just things like that that we’ve got to correct against better people.”
On USF:
“They’re a little bit different than what they have been in that the quarterback is probably not as much of a runner. It’s still kind of the spread you out, zone run and run-pass option offense. The quarterback is a big guy, strong arm. Defensively, they really play hard and run to the ball. They’ve got some good athletes, so, I mean, they’ve got a good team. They won 10 games a year ago and I think they’re 17-3 in their last 20 games at home. It wouldn’t be my idea to go down there and play them on the road, but we are.”
On TaQuon Marshall and the offensive line:
“He needs to be more cognizant about his stuff. He needs to worry about himself and let the offensive line worry about the offensive line. They weren’t the guys missing all the hot reads; we tend to want to blame everything on the offensive line all the time. Sometimes, very much so, but it was more than the offensive line that was out-of-sync on Saturday.”
On missed throws against Alcorn State:
“I think anytime that happens, it’s a little bit of both. Sometimes there’s some fundamental stuff that on the sprint out we can help him with, that he didn’t do a good job on and we didn’t do a good enough job coaching him on. Then, sometimes, you just got to throw it. I think that sometimes everybody makes such a big deal out of it that it probably makes him antsy when he does it. My take on that? I’ve seen the kid throw the ball in practice. He can throw it. We just need to play better, we need to help him with some fundamentals and he needs to throw the ball better. Just relax and believe in yourself and trust it and play. If he does that, he’ll be fine. Just look at what you’re supposed to look at.”
On offensive line play against Alcorn State:
“I thought the pass protection overall was pretty good for the most part. It’ll be tougher as the competition gets better. Most of the time [when] they were getting a lot of pressure, it was because they were bringing seven and we were bringing six to block.”
On the test of playing USF:
“We’re going to get tested this week; I mean defensively we weren’t tested very much [against Alcorn State]. I don’t think they threw more than two balls that went 10 yards down the field, so it’ll be a different deal. It’s like I said I’m not going to get too pepped up, or too discouraged, or too anything until you play a few games and then you’ll have a better idea of where you are.”
On his hopes for kickoff returns:
“I hope we’ll return one for a touchdown. Just be better at it. You always like to get it out as far as you can get it. The big thing is to not be tackled inside your 20 yard line. That’s the key. If you can get it out to the 30 every time, that’s great. But, eventually, you’d like to break one. It’s been awhile.”
On going back to Raymond James Stadium, where Georgia Tech won the 2009 ACC Championship Game:
“I just remember going for it a lot on fourth down. It seemed like both teams were scoring every time they had the ball. We just happened to get last turn. I think it was Derrick Morgan or somebody got a sack right at the end when there wasn’t much time left. Jon Dwyer scored on one I kinda drew up on the sideline during the timeout for him. We scored, went ahead and we were able to hold on.”
