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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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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