If Paul Johnson were a president instead of a football coach, Monday would be Jan. 21. He won the election months ago to succeed Chan Gailey at Georgia Tech, and everything to this point has been mostly talk, from recruiting to media interviews to meetings with players.

Inaugural balls are yesterday's news. Now, it's time to govern.

The Johnson Administration runs its first spring practice Monday. There will be 14 more practices over the next four weeks, ending with the spring game April 19. Here are five key topics for Johnson and Tech to address.

Bring in the new

Johnson will begin installing his option offense, and defensive coordinator Dave Wommack will make changes on his side. That means new terminology, new assignments, even entirely new positions and, of course, new plays.

It won't all get done this spring, Johnson said. How much gets done will depend on how quickly the players can absorb it. Any predetermined pace would be self-defeating.

"It doesn't do me any good to give me a calculus book and say we'll go from front to back in two weeks," Johnson said. "We might can go from front to back, but I probably couldn't tell you anything that was in the front when we finished."

He's not teaching calculus, or just X's and O's; he's teaching expectations. There's a Paul Johnson way of doing things, and that starts immediately, with efficient, two-hour practices featuring plenty of running, plenty of hitting and very little standing around. Players got a taste of that during pre-spring conditioning drills.

"I see a different team mindset. I see a lot more competition, a lot more intensity," quarterback Calvin Booker said.

Johnson said his practices will be much different than the ones he witnessed before Tech played in the Humanitarian Bowl.

"We're probably not going to be out there as long," he said, "but the pace will be quicker, I can assure you."

Learn who can play

What a player has done and where a player has played mean almost nothing. Johnson believes in making up his own mind. He talks about all the players starting on the same line.

"I don't have any preconceived notions about any of those guys. They're going to have to show me," he said. "I'm not into the hype. I'm into what I see when we get out there."

Linebacker Shane Bowen (recovering from surgery) and offensive lineman Cord Howard (foot injury) will sit out spring practice. Everyone else is being evaluated from today onward.

With Bowen not practicing and Philip Wheeler and Gary Guyton moving on to the pros, there will be a lot of focus on who can join Anthony Barnes at linebacker. Other interesting personnel decisions are likely on the offensive line and at cornerback.

Assign fresh roles

Willie White, who practiced as a receiver during his redshirt year, begins the spring as a safety, though there's no guarantee he will stay on defense. Morgan Burnett, who played both safety and cornerback as a freshman, will practice at safety. Two of the 13 starters Tech lost off last season's 7-6 team were safeties.

Greg Smith, the leading returning receiver, might not be just a receiver anymore. He will practice at A-back, a slotback spot where he could get an option pitch or go out for a pass. Receiver/punt returner Andrew Smith also will work at A-back. They join a couple of former running backs, Jamaal Evans and Roddy Jones.

Evans goes from playing behind Tashard Choice, Jonathan Dwyer and at times Rashaun Grant last fall to possibly playing in the same backfield with Dwyer, who begins practice as a B-back, lining up behind the quarterback.

Other B-backs are cut from the more traditional fullback mode, including Quincy Kelly and Luke Cox.

Former defensive back Tony Clark isn't returning to his old position. He's still a linebacker.

Find a quarterback

Taylor Bennett's decision to leave the team and eventually transfer to another school leaves Tech without a quarterback who has started a college game.

Johnson prefers quarterbacks who can run, and Josh Nesbitt ran on most of the snaps he took his freshman year. His 339 yards at 6.4 per carry made him Tech's third-leading rusher and the leader in yards per carry among Yellow Jackets with more than six attempts.

But Nesbitt operated almost exclusively out of the shotgun. How quickly can he learn to make the reads needed in Johnson's offense? What about Booker, the senior who isn't anywhere near as gifted a runner as Nesbitt — Booker gained six yards with his feet all last season — but showed good leadership ability and appears to be Tech's most effective passer?

Johnson said he's looking for whoever gives Tech the best chance to win and that he'll adjust the offense to suit that quarterback's skills. He also said his offense isn't especially hard to run and that the reads aren't any more challenging than those a drop-back passer has to make.

Work on special teams

Tech needs to find a punter and a kicker to replace two of the best in school history, Durant Brooks and Travis Bell.

Johnson considers punt protection and coverage so important the Jackets will work on it in every practice. He also plans to look at a lot of players in special teams roles, to see what they can do.