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VIZIO BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: AUBURN v FLORIDA STATEJanuary 3, 2014Ellis JohnsonPASADENA, CALIFORNIA Q. Ellis, They have not had their starters in much in the fourth quarter. Does that make it more challenging for you as a coordinator? ELLIS JOHNSON: Not so much because we have seen their offense, we know what their offense is and we know they're really, really good. How good we don't know because we don't play any of the guys they play. But I know on the other side of the ball it's been hard because they've seen their second team players athletically more than their first team players in the number of reps because they're playing downhill by the third quarter. For us it has not been that because the starters start and play at least through the first half and even Jameis was out there through the third quarter. So we know who they are and it's not hard to predictor get ready for. Q. Did you notice that they call the game or change plays with more freedom because they have been up so much? ELLIS JOHNSON: I think it's always true of any team. You can open up the playbook and not be conservative when you know you're going to get a lot of stops and get a lot of possessions. The Florida game is probably the best example. In offensive production this year and they played defensively extremely well but in the first half still 17‑0. So you play with a 17‑point lead you got somebody else's money and hopefully we'll play a balanced ballgame and eliminate that but nobody else has been able to. Q. Ellis as a defensive coordinator does it bother that you Auburn is ranked fairly low in the SEC nationally? ELLIS JOHNSON: No, you know, talking to Tony earlier about it. The whole thing has sort of confounded me. I coached defenses that were extremely dominant so making big plays at big times and they look sexy in the stats and sometimes that's because of who you're playing. I have coached defenses that were not real good. May make a play here or there to help your team and that's it. This bunch has been different. We have got terrible looking overall statistics and some of them are not misleading, but we make critical stops at critical times and we're good on third and fourth down percentage and good in the red zone and good in the fourth quarter and with an offense like ours and the kicking game like ours it's been good enough to contribute to our football team and win ballgames. It's got to be better this time because I think they're too prolific and too balanced. They certainly put the numbers up that is they're the best offense, but we have played some good offense and we have played some good offense that have played against good defenses, like Manziel, Murray, others, they have played against great defenses and still produced. We will see players like we have seen before but they are really good and we know they are and it's going to be a challenge to cut those numbers out. Q. When you say it's confounding, is it that you can't believe that the defense has played as‑‑ ELLIS JOHNSON: We play so "unhooked" at times. I contributed a little bit to a new system is, injuries here and there, we haven't had a continual season as a team as we would like to because this guy is out, that guy is out, this guy back in and some of the glue would come undone occasional and we would have to keep fighting. But if you go back and look at the critical plays, made by the defensive kids, our defense was on the field in the field goal run back but we have to play more consistent, no question about it. Q. A lot of the corner backs LSU guys having up against, I would think it prepares you. ELLIS JOHNSON: Certainly, Jameis is his own guy but those other guys are pretty good, too, and I think you will see three or four of them playing in the NFL, three or four of them mentioned in the Heisman race, couple of them got out of the Heisman race when they played us so we have seen good players and our players have stood up to it. But this is a special group and I believe because of their defense and their balance they're going to test us on both sides. It all goes hand‑in‑hand. We're going to have to play uphill starting the third quarter. Q. He will (No microphone.) ELLIS JOHNSON: The one thing from an X and O standpoint they run what I would call a deep drop‑back deep route philosophy. You see teams today when that fifth step hits the ground the ball is coming out or the quarterbacks start moving, it's a timing thing. Their routes present a different challenge. They're deeper, intermediate, double moves and if you hold the ball on a double move sometimes you're going to get sacked and they will take that trade‑off. He's mobile, too. He's coached well not to get panicky back there but when he has to pull it down he's hurt people with his feet. I had not noticed the sack numbers being extremely high or anything high for an offense that good. But if it is, it's probably because they're throwing deeper routes. Q. Third and long, good stats in that regard. What is it about him that he's been able to succeed in those spots. ELLIS JOHNSON: He will drop it down and do that and he can get out of trouble. It was kind of like Manziel never panicked back there and everybody thought he was an ad‑libber, he didn't throw it because he didn't have to, he could always beat with you his feet. So he was conservative where he would throw that ball. If it's not completely clean, he will start moving, Jameis ‑‑ and he has good vision down field and he can make the throw or run. Their third down is everything, they got a good offensive line, great skill so everybody on the field, you start double covering, and he can make any throw on the field. I think Jimbo‑‑ check his history, he's coached some great quarterbacks and all of it's not just talent, great teacher. Q. What will you do if you send a bunch of people after Jameis. ELLIS JOHNSON: We don't max blitz, we gotta get there with four or five, we're not going to get out there and get blitz happy because they have a great screen game because they can get the ball out of their hands, it has to be mixed in. But we gotta find a way to get pressure with more than one effort occasionally. Q. (No microphone.) ELLIS JOHNSON: It's important. I think our edge guys have been much more productive and it's obvious. We've gotten a good push at times. I think one key is our tackle is going to have to be able to get off blocks and keep those scrambles when they get up inside and start moving when they run for first downs. We've got to play man coverage, mix man and zone and when you're in man coverage you've got to get him caged up because he's converted third and 12s, and so forth. Q. (No microphone.) ELLIS JOHNSON: I don't connect the two. Had I gone down there as a 32‑year old coach trying to start a coaching career it would have been a bigger disappointment. I had been to Southern Mississippi and it's still the same place. The head coach has to win ballgames so I'm not pushing that off, but there were things I couldn't control and I don't see the connection and it hasn't been anything I've thought about. It's been fun moving, family has been happy, great community, all the things you need for a personal situation, working for Gus, competing with him, back in the school that has a chance to win national championships, it's been fun. It would have been fun and rewarding whether last year happened or not. Q. Your maturity comes into play here about what has it been about this year's team that you guys have been able to adjust and you draw on your career experience with that. ELLIS JOHNSON: One thing bad about coaching so long is you see stuff and you get these visions because you've seen it all. You miss some of those four‑footers where you used to make every four‑footer, but it helps. You draw on stuff and you don't react to things. Young coaches, you need 'em, you have to have that energy and that trial lawyer mentality we're going to win every time and that positive attitude. I think you have to have coaches who are older, experienced, seen stuff happen and when it happens you know what you need to do. Sometimes you need to react strongly and sometimes you don't need to overreact. We have a great blend on our staff. We're more experienced on the defensive side and we've got a good mix on our side. It helps. Q. What kind of feedback and communication do you and Gus have during the week on defense? ELLIS JOHNSON: We always watch the game together, our game that we played and get feedback from him on things as an offensive mind, "that's good, I wouldn't do that, what happened here," etcetera. But also, especially teams who have some things that are similar in his philosophy, he will always watch those games and give us feedback or we'll watch 'em together. He will say, "Here is what they're looking for, here is what they're trying to do." And there are a lot of people, not just Gus, he's certainly one of the most innovative and everybody wants to know what he's doing, and there is a lot of that now in offense. He's not the only one but he's been very impactful. So he knows a lot of times looking at systems and schemes, this is what they want to know. Have you got somebody that can force the box over here, have you got a shade over here, have you got a three technique, are you playing single high, he's going to work this, so that stuff helps. Defensively we chart plays and study systems and, we gotta stop that play. But they running that play for a certain reason and if you know why they're running it then you got a chance to make an adjustment and stop it. So he's been extremely helpful, absolutely. Q. Especially games like A&M, 'Ole Miss‑‑ ELLIS JOHNSON: They would be teams we got a lot more feedback. Florida State, they do a little bit of a zone read, and a split‑back read. This offense has a lot of Rick Trickett in it, and there are things that are similar to what he does. Steve was very helpful. When he would see things, knew about Texan routes and you got at that disguise this and disguise that. Q. Talk about the defensive backs that have made the big plays. How are you happy with them going into this game? ELLIS JOHNSON: They're really a picture of what our defense has been. They've been inconsistent, given up cheap plays, they have made some unbelievable plays. Our secondary was really one of the brightest spots when we first started in the spring. We lost our leading returning tackler, McNeal, lost Josh Holsey 48 hours before the Texas A&M game, he was the glue back there, on top of stuff. Between him and Whitehead we were more consistent we had started to become more consistent back there. He goes down on a Thursday afternoon with a two‑minute shadow drill and bumped one of the receivers. So we play Manziel without our starting guy, and it's been shaking ever since. We have given up throws and runs that have cost us 20 yards, 30 yards, 60 yards, things of that nature so it's been a mixed bag. When they make the kind of plays that they made at critical times you gotta trust them. When they make the plays that give up cheap plays you get frustrated. I think we're going to play better in this game, frankly. Q. These guys are three deep and they have a tight end on top of it, one of their wide receivers you wouldn't play man against them, when you've done that all season‑‑ ELLIS JOHNSON: Man is our base, we gonna play man. LSU had good receivers, Georgia had good receivers, Missouri had bigger receivers than Florida State's got. We have seen all types and at all times we haven't stopped them but you can't just give up on it. I think a lot of people are intimidated by man coverage because early in the game they can't score on 'em. If we score on them we can be more aggressive. Q. You guys had a hard time with LSU and Georgia, with those tight end match‑ups, what is it going to be like with the linebackers? How much more do you think you've had to focus on that? ELLIS JOHNSON: Very seldom will a linebacker cover a tight end. He's a really good route runner, you can tell Jameis trusts him because he's always in the right place. Whatever he's supposed to do he runs really good routes and everybody looks at him and says "he's not that talented" but he's a player and I makes players and you can tell that quarterback trusts him, he knows where he has to be and he makes cuts and catches but the match‑up on him is not the issue. The biggest problem, the tight end made two big catches for LSU and it was a busted coverage, zone coverages and those are issues more about scheme not players. Q. Ellis, what has Chris Davis meant to this team? ELLIS JOHNSON: He's done a lot. When we start doing team awards, Gus had all three coordinators, offense, defense, special teams, we were all out on the road so we were texting and we didn't know whether to give him M.V.P., M.V.P. special teams player, M.V.P. defensive player, he's made so many big plays. If you take Chris Davis out does somebody make those plays? I don't think they make all of 'em. What all would it have impacted? A lot of things. The play at the end of the Alabama game, that's one of 'em. He made a lot of good plays and he matched up most of the time on the best receivers and he's given up some balls, too, but he can play with about anybody in the country one‑on‑one and has shown that most of the time. Q. He's fought injuries through his career and mirrored your whole turn‑around as a team, hung in there. ELLIS JOHNSON: He played in this game three years ago, got hurt on opening kick‑off. So he is a little bit of a reflection or picture of what our team has gone through. His talent was obvious after that two or three days of practice and our corner and safeties jumped out at us for a team that had struggled, had two interceptions the year before. That was a pretty good‑lookin' group, but all of the sudden we had two of them hurt, Jonathan Jones and of course McNeal was gone and hole see got hurt and we went through a pretty deep group to rotating through four guys now and they get tired and that's sometimes when plays were given up. Q. How much has Carl Lawson developed and where is where is his ceiling? ELLIS JOHNSON: He physically probably ahead of where our older guys were at that point in their career. He may make an assignment bust that an older kid might not make. I think he's going to be a great player because he studies the game and he works hard and his learning curve is going to get better and better. Q. What was the mind‑set when you got there? Half beaten down by the ‑‑ ELLIS JOHNSON: They were badly. I didn't meet all the players. Christmas holiday started, it was at least a month before I met the guys. Coach Malzahn knew some of them and had been around them two years earlier and talking about how they were beat up. There was a mixed bag. There were some‑‑ for lack of a better word, lack of confidence, frustration, anger. We went through spring, made some improvements, coaches getting to know players and all that, I did exit interviews and I still got a mixed bag but I got the feeling they were ready for change and for the most part they were ready to move on. You know there are two elements to that. Number one we were willing to forget the past but number two, they were going to have to quit doing things the way they did in the past and some of them didn't buy in and there were very few that were cut but there were a few. Has it been perfect? I've been around football teams for 39 years and if you ever got all of them totally on board‑‑ that doesn't happen. You always got players that want more attention or they're frustrated or they have a bad day here or there but they've been a special group and during the season we have had absolutely no incident that would be distracting or embarrassing or detrimental to our football program. I think Gus is not going to tolerate it, and I think he controlled it early in a positive way but there wasn't any gray area and 99% of them have bought in at present. Thank you, all. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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