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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 22, 2010

Paul Johnson

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Georgia Tech head football Coach Paul Johnson. We'll bring on Coach Johnson, ask for a brief opening statement, then go to questions.
Coach.
COACH JOHNSON: Good morning. We were excited to get off to a good start in the conference last week. I was proud of our guys. Thought they played with a lot of effort and intensity. Now we've got our first home conference game against a team that could quite possibly be the hottest team in our league right now. They're playing very well, have a lot of weapons. It will be a big challenge for our guys this week.

Q. Coach, when you look at NC State on film, you break down the packages where they use their fullback, what do you see out of Taylor that he seems to bring to help their offense?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think they run a lot of personnel packages that he's included in. He can do a lot of things. Not only is a good blocker, he's a receiver coming out. He's sound in protection. He's a good football player.
He's a big part of what they do.

Q. He's also one of their best special teams players. When you play somebody that has a standout on special teams, do you try to account for him on your coverages? How do you deal with those guys who seem to just fly around on special teams?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think it varies from week to week. Certainly you have to be aware of a guy like that. I think the kids on the other team are aware of him.
I don't know how much you change the scheme for one person. Sometimes you have to. But you're certainly aware of him.

Q. Paul, what is the best thing you've accomplished in practice the last couple days? Have your points of emphasis been any different this week?
COACH JOHNSON: No, not really. We've only had the one practice. Monday is a conditioning day for us, error correction. We had yesterday. Today will be a pads practice.
But it's been status quo, about like normal. Nothing really different. Our practices are pretty similar every week in that we work on the opponent some but we also spend a great deal of time working on ourself.
It's been about status quo. No big difference.

Q. What did you feel your defense did better last week than in the previous game against Kansas? What are your biggest worries for your defense?
COACH JOHNSON: I think the quarterback certainly is capable of making a lot of big plays. We had a couple series we played better last week on defense in the second half. I think maybe it will give them some confidence to be out there in that last drive when we had to get a stop to win the game and we were able to do that.
It's been a struggle. I'd be lying to say it hadn't been. There's been a transition. We probably are playing the best offensive team we've played to date, no question. It will be interesting to see how much we've grown on defense. It's going to be a big challenge for them.

Q. Jim Grobe said something interesting. He said coaching at a school with high academic standards, sometimes the tendency is to think because you believe as a whole you have a lot of smart kids you can throw a lot of stuff at them offensively and defensively. Even these kids get to a point where he said they've thrown too much at them. Do you ever find that to be the case at Georgia Tech? Do you ever make an assumption that these kids can remember everything that you throw at them?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think that's always been the case that people think, even when I was at the academy. Just because a guy is smart in math and science doesn't mean he understands football.
Different guys can handle different things. That's a big part of trying to gauge how much they can handle. You can understand everything as a coach and have a great feel for what's going on, but it doesn't do any good if the guys that are playing on the field don't understand.
I think he's got a valid point.

Q. Are there kids who are borderline as far as their academics go but there's a football intelligence?
COACH JOHNSON: No question. That's exactly right. Everybody has talents. There are some kids who struggle academically but they can understand everything you're talking about in sports and athletics. It makes sense to them. There's no question that that's the case.

Q. This game features the last two first-team all-ACC quarterbacks. Can you contrast the styles, what they bring to the table?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think that each program asks them to do a little something different. I think they're both really good players. Josh was not going to throw it as many times as Russell Wilson will in the game. Hopefully we can be efficient when we throw it. I hope our quarterback is going to have more rushing yardage than they are. If we don't, we're in trouble.
They're both very important to their team, good players. Both guys make their teams go.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for being with us. Good luck this weekend. We'll talk to you next Wednesday.
COACH JOHNSON: Take care.

End of FastScripts

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