Paul Johnson, Tech ramping it up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry I’ve been away so long. Combination of computer problems and a major health issue with a family member.
Onward as we move toward the start of practice next Wednesday (3 p.m.) …
This is not the first time you’ve read somewhere that Paul Johnson is confident, that he believes in what he does, right? Some call it swagger, some ego, some arrogance, some just plain confidence.
Whatever, I appreciate it — however you want to describe Johnson’s countenance — as long as it doesn’t come packaged with smug condescension like a coach I dealt with several years back, or turn to a defensive counter-attacking mode when tough times come ‘round. I haven’t seen a single sign of these petty approaches, although conditions for the latter haven’t arisen yet.
Some of Andrew Gardner’s comments at the ACC Football Kickoff made it more clear Johnson is abundantly comfortable in his own skin (even if he gets edgy once in a while when he’s barraged with questions about his offense).
“Really, I was probably surprised at his almost defiant confidence in his own system, just the level of, ‘I don’t give a [hoot] what people think about this, it’s going to work. If you don’t want to be here, get the [heck] out,’ ” Gardner said. “Really, that level of, ‘If you want to be here, I want you; if you don’t, get out.’ That level of just, ‘I’m confident in this, you all pull with me; if not, get out of here.’ “
It’s interesting, and perhaps not surprising, that on some occasions Johnson goes hard in defending his offensive system and pointing to its results over the years at Navy, Georgia Southern and even Hawaii, and in other instances he suggests that his offensive methods will not be the end-all determinant of Tech’s success or failure.
On those occasions, he says it gets back to players, and having good ones.
Examples of the latter:
“It’s not just the system. We’re not going to win just because of the system. If we can’t execute the system, we’re going to get our tails kicked.”
“I just think that system stuff is way overblown. It doesn’t have anything to do with it. If you’re a good player, you’re going to be a good player.”
Example of the former:
“It’s been pretty good for a lot of years. That’s why I kid of scoff or kind of laugh when people say, ‘We’ll see if this will work.’ It’s not like we’re doing something that’s never been done. We’ve been doing it for 20 years at three schools and it’s worked pretty good.”
It’s human nature when you get crushed by endless variations of the same question to more than cover your bases with your answers.
Moving on …
A writer yesterday asked Miami coach Randy Shannon about the unique challenge of facing Tech’s wishbone offense. That’s right, wishbone. Hey, Johnson ran the wishbone in his first coaching job, under his high school coach (Elmer Aldridge) in Newland, N.C., but he’s not running the ‘bone now.
Nonetheless, here’s what Shannon said:
“It’s hard because it’s the only time you’re going to see it. You’ve got to be sound. It’s an offense that can get you because you’re playing the run, and the play-action pass [comes]. It’s almost like a four-receiver set because of the double slots [A backs]. If you’re not careful, those slot guys can run up the field with nobody on them because of your reads.”
Hmm. Sounded an awful lot like something Gardner said the day before.
“[Defenses], if they’re expecting the [A] backs to block them that’s all the better because now they can release and go and now they’re out there open and nobody’s on them. If they go ahead and start stacking to stop the run immediately, even though the offense is so run-heavy because that’s what we want to do, it doesn’t mean you can’t step back and throw it.”
And on …
Gardner spoke Sunday about how he figures opponents will hate playing Tech because the Jackets are going to cut block.
Johnson had a chance to put soften that suggestion a little the next day, when the voice of the Yellow Jackets, Wes Durham, asked at a table full of media if that was a fair description.
Johnson didn’t shy away from the reality that the Jackets will occasionally block below the waist (which is legal near the line of scrimmage, when just one blocker is involved, and he’s blocking from in front of the defender and not the side or back), but he didn’t come off as stridently on the topic as Gardner, either. For more, see the on-line Q&A with the coach.
Finally, this doesn’t relate to Georgia Tech, and although it’s an item about Virginia Tech quarterback Sean Glennon, it’s really more about perspectives, and how they can change, about how clarity is achievable through hardship.
Glennon had started 16 games in a row for the Hokies before coach Frank Beamer took that job away for about a month last season only to have Glennon regain it when freshman Tyrrod Taylor was injured. The Hokies (who by the way really didn’t have spring practice last year if you remember because of the tragedy on campus) went on to win the ACC title, and Glennon was a huge reason why. Lord knows he sliced up Georgia Tech in Atlanta last Nov. 1 (wearing a Jackets jersey).
I asked if he benefitted from his time on the bench.
“It was terrible. It was a blow to my pride. I came back a better person and a better quarterback. I had a different attitude. I might have been taking the game of football for granted. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. I wasn’t having much fun. When I went back in there, I was just going to fling the ball around and have fun and enjoy the game.
“I don’t want to say I was more risky, but I was making more dangerous throws. I was just going out there and playing. It was almost like I was back in my high school days. I was very confident, and enjoying it all, no pressure, no worries.”
Nothing like a little attitude adjustment.
This is one of the reasons why Beamer and Virginia Tech are successful. He’s less likely to play favorites or stand pat than to make decisions that he thinks are correct. Oh, and here’s another: he and his staff recruit so very wisely, as Shannon points out.
“They recruit the kind of players that are going to play in their defense. They don’t go out and recruit the players who everybody says are No. 1. That’s what we’re doing at Miami,” Shannon said.
“We’re going out and getting guys who fit what we’re doing. It may be the No. 1 guy in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, but if he doesn’t fit what we’re doing, we’re not going to recruit him. It may look bad, but you got to recruit for what you’re trying to get done. Coach Beamer and them do a great job of that.”
A lot of coaches say they recruit for fit. Some really do. Johnson was asked if there any players who do not fit what Tech will do.
“Other than maybe a quarterback, if you have a 6-6 or 6-7 dropback quarterback who can’t move, OK, he doesn’t fit into the system,” he said.
It will be very rare in my opinion that you’ll see offensive lineman over 295 playing for Johnson, but when asked if he would rule out recruiting the 6-6, 320-pound roadgraders, he said, “if they’re good players, we’ll recruit them.”
We’re fixing to start finding out more about coach Paul Johnson real quick.
Matt
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The Golden, olden days were better
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I wonder if Tech students and fans cared more about the Yellow Jackets a half century ago. Follow along here …
Pretty amazing response to the previous blog, sent out Tuesday morning in search of long-time fans who might have seen Jake Rudolph’s famous tackle of Alabama running back Bobby Marlow in 1952.
I didn’t hear from anyone in time to include them in the story, but I’ve received several e-mails from older fans with great memories. And there is far more anecdotal evidence in the responses to that blog that although Tech’s golden era in football was 50-plus years ago, a lot of hearts still warm to the memory of that age.
So I started to think about this, especially after talking to Darrell Crawford, who quarterbacks those SEC championship teams at Tech in ‘51 and ‘52. I spoke to him about Rudolph, and his pending funeral.
It is pretty obvious from what Crawford said (and others have said at various times) that much was different. That’s no shock. Gas was cheaper. Cars looked almost completely unlike they do today. Communism, not terrorism or religious fundamentalism, was the anchor around which most fear and loathing were wrapped.
So sure, times have changed. But just how much, and why?
Don’t have time to quantify how much other than to pass along some of Crawford’s thoughts.
He said, “Your classmates, the students, it seems like it was so much more loyal then. Those people kept up with you for years after you left Georgia Tech. They would bring things up [years later]. Us old football players sometimes forget things, but your spectators, students and friends remember in detail.
“I’ve had them come up so many times and tell me about a special play coach Dodd put in for me against Auburn. He called it the Kingsport play, the hidden ball play, and that was the only way we could score against Auburn. Their defense was so great.”
Kingsport, Tenn., was the hometown of Bobby Dodd and Crawford, by the way.
My theories on why the interest in Tech was so much greater is neither revolutionary or original. Obviously, there are so many, many more distractions in this day and age. Students, alumni and potential fans do not have the bombardment of mass media to wade through and distract them, to peel away their interest.
Plus, Tech won and won and won back in the day.
And that was a two-part equation. The Jackets were highly skilled, and by all evidence immensely cohesive.
I’ve opined before that chemistry is the most under-rated element of success. Crawford said nothing to change my mind.
“All of our team had just such a bond,” he said. “For a team to have what we had back then was highly unusual. We had great players, but everybody was on the same wavelength so to speak. When you have that kind of bond, respect, that’s when you have championships.
“Coach Dodd always told us, ‘Men you’re down here at Georgia Tech. We’re not like other schools. It’s unique. We’re going to win, but we’re going to be good students.’ He always used that word unique. Our players were unique to be able to bond together with their talent. Usually you have players that play for themselves.”
Players from the ‘51-‘52 teams are especially committed to one another to this day. Their numbers continue to dwindle, as there is no other way. But they gather regularly, even with the loss last year of former captain and uber-organizer George Morris.
That will continue for a time. I told Darrell I’d like to catch up with him and former teammates this fall, when they gather at an as yet undetermined date. Maybe Steve Hummer could write something about that and do it justice.
“It’s an unofficial board of officers with myself and Dick Inman and Harry Wright and Bucky Shamberger. We are the committee that kind of keeps the team going. George was obvious the primary mover and shaker,” Crawford said.”We miss George. It’s be a great big gold and white wreath [at Rudolph’s funeral], and it will be from the we call it a team, not teams (‘51 and ‘52).
“We still consider ourselves one group. It’s amazing how we still get together. We’re trying to arrange a get-together for this fall. I talked to George Maloof today. I just can’t tell you how unique and unusual it is.”
Unusual indeed, and powerfully reminiscent of a by-gone era, no?
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Were you a Tech fan in 1952?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Paging long-, long-time Tech fans …
Anybody out there remember “Little Jakie” Rudolph’s $125,000 tackle? The one the former Tech defensive back made on Alabama’s Bobby Marlow to preserve a 7-3 win in 1952, and send the Jackets to the Sugar Bowl.
Pretty big play not only in Tech annals, but in college football history. The Jackets beat Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl to win their third mythical national title, finish unbeaten for the second season in a row, and keep alive Bobby Dodd’s 31-game unbeaten streak.
As for the nickname … the Sugar Bowl at the time had a $125,000 payout per team. So, the fourth-down tackle earned Tech that payday.
I’m going to write more about Rudolph, who passed away Sunday in Memphis, for Wednesday’s paper.
I’d love to hear from a couple fans who remember it, or perhaps former classmates/teammates of Rudolph.
If you can help e-mail me at mwinkeljohn@ajc.com.
Thanks.
Matt Winkeljohn
P.S. By the way, on Tech’s athletic website now (ramblinwreck.cstv.com), you can vote for the seven greatest plays in the school’s football history. The aforementioned play is a candidate. Go to the football link.
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Tarrant’s accuser did allege intercourse took place
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
E-mails I have received and comments I have seen posted on other Web sites make it clear that my article posted Tuesday evening about the rape allegations against Georgia Tech football player Jerrard Tarrant left people with an incomplete idea of what the woman said happened that night. I thought the rape charge and her friends’ statements that she said, “I was raped,” made it clear that she alleged intercourse had taken place, and I omitted a specific description of that allegation. Here is a small part of that description:
“As [the forced intercourse occurred], I continuously asked him to please stop. He eventually did stop. He did not put on a condom. He asked me, ‘Why are you running from me?’ as I pushed my hips away from him. I tried to push him off of me but he was stronger than me.”
Tarrant denied to police that intercourse took place, and two of his teammates told police he told them there had been oral sex but no intercourse. There was no male DNA found in the rape kit and no semen found on the woman’s panties, according to two GBI reports. A doctor’s examination found vaginal bruising.
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Earls’ intent, Richt’s predix & Donley’s dilemma
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A couple leftovers from the Pigskin Preview, and a detail or two beyond.
Correy Earls, whom you might remember suffered a frightening head/neck injury trying to throw a block for Taylor Bennett on a crucial fourth down late in the Virginia game last season, is penciled in as a starter at WR. I think you can use pen. He and Demaryius Thomas will be the starting WRs unless something strange happens.
He left the field on a board, and was hospitalized overnight after that. “I still remember the situation very vividly. It’s something that will never be forgotten, but I’m not worried at all,” he said. “It won’t be something that I’ll take to the field with me. If I was put in the same situation, I would probably do the same thing again. It wouldn’t make me think twice.
“It’s all in the game of football. You can’t wonder, What if? You have to just play hard, and leave the rest up to God.”
Another WR, James Johnson, suffered a bunch of injuries last season, and may have taken a shot or two that he can’t forget. He left the sport. To each his own. This is not a ringing endorsement, nor an indictment. Football can be a very unforgiving game, huh? Each person processes his experience differently, sometimes very differently.
“They said it was a minor spinal injury and a concussion. I remember they did tests all through the night. All I remember is they were waking me up every 30 minutes or every hour to make sure this was moving and that was moving,” Earls said.
How would you like that to be one of your dominant memories of a game you love?
Moving on …
Georgia coach Mark Richt, who called in via teleconference from the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., said he’s glad the Bulldogs will play Tech last in the regular season to better get a read on coach Paul Johnson’s offense.
“You don’t know what [approach] is going to work for the talent that he has so we’ll have a good idea of what to prepare for, and we’ll have an open date [before the game] that’s going to help us,” Richt said. “We’ll have a chance to see what they’re going to hang their hat on, and I think that’s going to help.”
And on again …
This will be old news for some of you, but I heard a few days ago that D.J. Donley is back, attending summer school at Tech. He still wants to transfer, and needs to get some academic work done at Tech in order to do so. I do not believe he’s working out with former teammates. I don’t think he’s interested in playing for Tech. Simply put, he does not like Atlanta or Tech the way it was explained to me. No significant problem with the football program exactly, just the city and academic environment. He has work to do to become eligible to transfer. It’s no lock.
Going on vacation Saturday until July 7th or so. Then, practice will be three-plus weeks away. Hard to believe.
Matt
Latest comments
GT76 - I do think the stage was set to have a big year last year. We were coming off an ACC title game with very solid recievers, experienced offensive line and the leading rusher in the ACC from the year before. The only missing ingredient was at QB... read the full comment by GT Jackets | Comment on Paul Johnson, Tech ramping it up Read Paul Johnson, Tech ramping it up
Oh, and PTC Dawg, That “Mickey Mouse” triple option offense is what beat you in the Sugar Bowl a few years ago.... read the full comment by James | Comment on Paul Johnson, Tech ramping it up Read Paul Johnson, Tech ramping it up
Jim- Need I remind you that Chan Gailey had a similar mantra of “play four quarters and see if it works?” To me, that represents an ideology of “the best man will win this game”. The ideology that Paul Johnson has is “Georgia... read the full comment by James | Comment on Paul Johnson, Tech ramping it up Read Paul Johnson, Tech ramping it up
Like every life long Tech fan, this time of year I can’t help but get excited about the new season. I think, is this going to be the season? In the past couple of years, I couldn’t help but have a shade of doubt in the back of my mind, because... read the full comment by GT45 | Comment on Paul Johnson, Tech ramping it up Read Paul Johnson, Tech ramping it up