Just got done transcribing Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson‘s 90-minute interview session from Monday. Two things stand out.
* A lot of questions about his offense (which is a big facet of a story slated for tomorrow’s dead tree edition).
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* A lot of dry, wry observations from Johnson himself.
Not nearly all of his quips can be crammed into a story. But here’s a sampling of the former Navy coach’s wit and wisdom, a staple in Annapolis over the last six years:
On other blocking schemes:
“You’re looking initially to knock somebody back. If you’re zone blocking, you’re just trying to tie guys up and run with them. Just put a body on a body and just wallow in there. It’s like a giant pillow fight.”
On Georgia Tech’s past run/pass ratio:
“If you look in the stats, I don’t think Georgia Tech was very close to Texas Tech or Hawaii throwing it. They ran the ball last year. It’s what they do. The games they won, they ran the ball successfully. The games they lost, they couldn’t run the ball.”
What he’s looking for from offensive linemen:
“We’re not leaning on people and laying on them. We’re asking them to knock some guys off the ball and come off the ball and be able to cut off the back side. I don’t want some guy that’s 6-9 and 340 pounds and takes two days to get out of his room and just lay on somebody.”
Thoughts on a “system” team that did rather well last season:
“One of the funniest things I heard during the offseason, and I just busted out laughing, [was] Georgia kills Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl and everybody goes ‘See, I told you that wouldn’t work.’ Hello? Hawaii’s in the damn Sugar Bowl. Would they be in the Sugar Bowl if they were doing something else? And if you took two weeks and let Georgia’s players put in a run-and-shoot and let Hawaii run Georgia’s offense, Georgia would still win. It wouldn’t matter.”
On whether Virginia Tech will be helped in recruiting by opening the ‘09 season against an SEC team at the Georgia Dome:
“It couldn’t hurt them.”
After about the 27th question about his offense:
“Contrary to popular opinion, I’m not diametrically opposed to the forward pass.”
—- Patrick Stevens
