Paul Johnson on Chick-fil-A, o-line
Greetings-
Hope you are well. The good folks at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame held their Pigskin Preview Tuesday, inviting coaches and players from every college football team in the state to meet with reporters. I went and compiled these sound bites, including two from the typically straight-shooting Paul Johnson, who took a poke at the expected (at least by some) return of Florida State. Our intern Meghan Rose filed this story about their reaction to Terrelle Pryor getting nabbed for selling memorabilia, including an opinion from linebacker Steven Sylvester.
Anyway, I was able to speak with Johnson for a little bit about the team. I’ll share the first part and then share some more stuff later.
I first asked about the 2013 Chick-fil-A Kickoff game, which both Chick-fil-A Bowl president Gary Stokan and athletic director Dan Radakovich (now on Twitter!) acknowledged was a possibility. Johnson did not strike a terribly optimistic tone.
“I don’t know about 2013,” he said. “We’ve talked to them about playing in the game for some time, but it’s got to be the right deal for us to give away one of our home games.”
In 2013, Tech has six home games scheduled – Clemson, FSU, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Elon and Georgia. (The one non-conference road game is BYU.) Most years, Tech has seven home games. The home-game thing, as you might expect, is a sticking point with Johnson, although Tech would have had to give up a home game with Western Carolina to play USC this year, a game Johnson, Radakovich and USC coach Lane Kiffin had agreed to before talks broke down when Pat Haden replaced Mike Garrett at USC AD.
To Johnson, the “right deal” is “if you have the right opponent and maybe it’s not giving away one of our home games,” he said.
Johnson said USC would have been a “fun game.” I won’t try to divine who else would constitute a “fun game,” but that will evidently be Stokan’s charge if Tech is to play in the game in 2013.
On a different topic, Johnson sounded far more optimistic about the offensive line than he has previously. After one spring practice, he questioned their motivation, saying, “If you don’t want to play, it won’t matter” that the incoming freshmen will push for playing time. The same day, he was asked about the B-backs competition, and Johnson replied that they “don’t’ really have much of a chance, if you want to know the truth,” implying the offensive line wasn’t opening up holes for them.
Tuesday, however, Johnson said “everyone else” is more concerned about the line than he is. He said the improved defense, injuries and coaching kept the line from performing better.
“They’ve taken a lot of the brunt (of the criticism) and everybody wants to say that, but I think when they get out there, they’ll be fine,” he said. “Offensive line’s not where we’ve problems. We’ve had problems stopping people. That’s where we need to be better.”
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100 comments Add your comment
Uh, isn't the Kick-off game...
June 15th, 2011
2:41 pm
…played in Atlanta at the GA Dome? And, isn’t Tech still in Atlanta? And, doesn’t CPJ know that Tech is in Atlanta? And, doesn’t he know the Dome is in Atlanta, not really very far from
Bobby Dodd Stadium? So, by playing at the Dome, how is Tech “giving up” a home game?
Thinking like CPJ’s makes me go “huh”! I know, I know, the Dome is not Historic Grant Field; but, c’mon, as others have said, it’s not like Tech is really giving up a real “home” game…
juvenal
June 15th, 2011
2:41 pm
doesn’t D-Rad ultimately decide who we play?
gt4ever
June 15th, 2011
2:44 pm
WnE,
There is NO excuse! It’s completely obvious why CPJ doesn’t want to play Alabama….
spider
June 15th, 2011
2:44 pm
NCAA seems only worried about players selling their own stuff instead of investigating cheating going on in the field of play like the so called christian mormons did last year and then BYU has the gull to call their athletic programs honorable, what a joke.
JM
June 15th, 2011
2:52 pm
Go Jackets. Coach Johnson is right about the defense being a big issue in th past. I think the defense will be much improved this year.
GTBob
June 15th, 2011
3:07 pm
Instead of attacking the messenger, use that energy to explain CPJ’s obvious cowardice when it comes to GT scheduling tougher opponents.
He wanted to play USC. Is USC a weak opponent? Why do you assume that the right opponent means a weak opponent?
Gary
June 15th, 2011
3:09 pm
Good profile on Coach Paul Johnson from one of the links above:
http://coachesbythenumbers.com/coach-profile/?coach=Paul+Johnson
Really good stuff.
SoCal_GT_Fan
June 15th, 2011
3:10 pm
I think CPJ is worried about two things with playing the kickoff classic:
1) Tech fans aren’t known for traveling (even 2 miles to a “neutral” site) so CPJ expects that most of the stadium will be filled with the SEC team’s fans
2) Recruiting wise, we have enough exposure in the South East. By playing USC or any school from the West coast or Midwest, we can expand our recruiting base. Of course, we will mainly want to recruit Georgia but still, you want to expand your options if possible.
Of course, If I was him, I would sign up to play in a nanosecond. We might get slaughtered but at least we would have faced some elite competition in the beginning which if we actually run the table (I’m not saying we are going to do that, its a BIG IF), shouldn’t affect our final ranking as oppose to playing our final game against an elite team and losing which would affect our ranking more profoundly. Also the national exposure from playing in this game is priceless. Another reason he should play in the kickoff classic is so I can watch the game from Southern California!! If it wasn’t for ESPN360, I would have had the opportunity to watch only 3-4 games a year.
Jerry
June 15th, 2011
3:14 pm
“Kinda hard for the CPJ boot-licking-toadies to DEFEND those statements above.”
What do you mean? I am all for playing a weak OOC schedule. Works good for FLA. Works so good that McGarrity has acknowledged that his scheduling strategy going forward at UGA will be weak non-conference games. We already play UGA OOC. It’s not being a coward, it’s being SMART!!!
football_365
June 15th, 2011
3:15 pm
Its funny how the gt fans have more confidence in the team than the coach does! Crying about giving up a home game when the team could walk to the dome from techs campus. Win lose or draw cmr didn’t run from boise st he stepped up to the plate, coming off of a 6-7 and with a bunch of people calling for his head! Oh well I guess cpj has “bigger fish to fry” coward!
Jerry
June 15th, 2011
3:16 pm
WnE:
Hell, Rich Brooks made a career out of weak scheduling. I don’t really have a problem with it as long as you are winning your fair share of conference games.
http://coachesbythenumbers.com/the-rich-brooks-method-of-success-perception-is-reality/
Jerry
June 15th, 2011
3:19 pm
football 365:
Are you familiar with the concept of a home game? It means play in the stadium that you are accustomed to playing in. Just because the game is in Atlanta doesn’t mean that is a HOME game. Do you think UGA would rather be playing Boise in Athens or the Dome (but that game will technically be considered a HOME game for UGA).
GT Snap Count
June 15th, 2011
3:22 pm
CPJ had better change it up a bit this year. The defenses are learning to time the snap count based on the A-back starting his circle around the QB. Defenders can leap across the O-line with so much more intensity and speed because they know the snap is coming seconds after the A-back starts his “U-Shaped” running motion.
Also, that play where we try to draw the defense offsides on 4th down
should be tossed. Opposing defenses have figured this one out too.
Moral of the story – if we want to win games, CPJ had better add some
variety to his game (including additional formations).
football_365
June 15th, 2011
3:33 pm
@jerry face it cpj is scared of bama. He would rather keep elon on the schedule as opposed to getting the tech program national exposure.
juvenal
June 15th, 2011
3:38 pm
wish everyone on picture day asks him the same thing i will-”Coach, how about some shot-gun?”
GT Snap Count
June 15th, 2011
3:51 pm
juvenal:
I’d be happy with the pistol formation. If I had dinner with CPJ, I would like to ask him why we don’t even go shotgun formation when we are down by a touchdown and have 2 minutes to go in the game.
GT Fan
June 15th, 2011
3:54 pm
I bet CPJ would take on Bama if it were game #2 for Bama. They wouldn’t have much time to prep for the Triple Option.
superDawg
June 15th, 2011
3:57 pm
gt king of the cartoon channel.NUFF SAID!
ManUp...
June 15th, 2011
4:06 pm
GT Snap Count, I think the answer to your question is buried somewhere in the strategy CPJ employs on O-line. I’d bet if you ask he’d tell you it doesn’t matter what the D-line does when they don’t know which gaps are getting pinched for the B-back or QB or which blocks are coming from different angles. The beauty of CPJ using the same formation for everything is that on top of the defense having to be ready for dive, keep, pitch or pass on every down (ideally), they also don’t know if it’s going to be a midline option or any number of toss sweeps, etc. I’d be open to seeing us change the snap count up for the “intensity” argument as you mentioned, but the formations probably aren’t changing much, except for trick plays (and who can forget the man will use those when he knows he’ll get away with it!?) Just my 2 cents. It’ll be a better year than people are saying regardless, the way I see it.
Go Jackets!
juvenal
June 15th, 2011
4:16 pm
takes2 seconds to go shotgun……Napoleon had a great offense, but after 10 years, Wellington figured out how to stop it……
Moobs Johnson
June 15th, 2011
4:22 pm
Maybe Elon will agree to moving the game to the Chickfilet bowl. That would be a game that would keep all twelve of Tech fans on the edge of their seats.
Moobs Johnson
June 15th, 2011
4:24 pm
Since when is a game against UGA at the joke by coke stadium considered a home game? Every year there is more red wearing fans than urine colored fans.
GT93
June 15th, 2011
4:25 pm
The game between GT and Bama was re-scheduled until 2020. This was also part of the confusion and “calendar-checking” that was being done to determine the match-up in the 2013 Chic-fil-a Kick-Off game.
Do you understand how far in advance OOC games have to be scheduled these days?? If one schedule conflict comes up, it usually leads to a postponement of 7-10 years.
Rest assured … nobody at GT is scared of Bama. GT will also be playing a home-and-home series with Ole Miss in 2017 and 2018.
macrotech
June 15th, 2011
5:04 pm
AND superDawg wimpers….AGAIN!
Ken Sugiura
June 15th, 2011
5:05 pm
I don’t think the fact that the dome is close to Tech’s campus is relevant. For better or worse, as Tokyo Jacket wrote, I’d guess that if Tech played an SEC opponent, it’d be a neutral-site game.
ManUp – not sure what to tell you. I didn’t see it in the filter, either. Sorry.
Patsy
June 15th, 2011
5:09 pm
Had you rather start 1-0 vs WCarolina or 0-1 against Boise?
between the lines
June 15th, 2011
5:14 pm
PJ has never been a giant killer, the big wins he had at Navy were against a 9 loss Notre dame, 7 loss Pittsburgh, 8 loss UConn and beating up winless Duke and 2 win Vandy. In Pjs book almost beating Boston College was a moral victory. At Tech 2 wins against quality competition UGA in 2008 and V Tech in 2009.
Footballrules
June 15th, 2011
5:33 pm
Moobs Johnson: speaking of urine…. “There was urination. There was defecation. There were 70 tons of trash. Buildings like the law school or the library, we’ve had to close because when we left them open the destruction was too significant.” UGA Pres. Michael Adams on the scene left after games in Athens.
That’s what happens when 75% of your fan base barely finished high school.
Delbert D.
June 15th, 2011
7:26 pm
I’m trying to remember what I did during the summer when I was 14 years old. I went out and ran a lot; that’s more fun than freaking out over the internet, trying to impress myself with dim at best wit. Yeah, we had TV, but only 3 channels in black and white. So I played pickup baseball and ran a lot.
Do What?
June 15th, 2011
11:14 pm
So Fish Fry wants 1) keep a home game, 2) play the “right” opponent. I suppose playing in a stadium which seats 71,000 vs itty bitty Grant Field’s 35,000 would be a difficult adjustment for GT. I wonder who Fish Fry’s right opponent might be……..Elon, Middle Tenn, Navy, Jax St? We all know Fish Fry would rather cancel a legit program in order to play a lesser program, he’s done that since taking the job, Bama, Auburn, Ole Miss come to mind.
What’s hard to figure out is why the Kickoff wants GT. GT can’t give away tickets for home games. Which leads me to believe ‘ol Fish Fry is really not interested in playing in the kickoff, he knows he won’t win, he knows the GT fans won’t show, and he realizes the GT game would be either a Friday evening ‘bust’ or a lightly viewed noon kickoff as the undercard for the BIG game featuring an SEC team.
Paul in RDU
June 15th, 2011
11:35 pm
Isn’t the 2011 Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic the undercard for the BIG game featuring a quality SEC team – LSU vs Oregon at JerryWorld
let's go Jackets
June 16th, 2011
12:26 am
ALL I know is that Tevin Washington only beat Duke and barely..so if I have concerns that my football team is looking alot like a 1AA team I think my concerns are valid, please CPJ tell me I am wrong
GTGreg
June 16th, 2011
12:49 am
WrecktumEffect (i.e. WnE) is just a Georgie fan. WnE, if you’re still reading, why don’t you go back to choking your chicken.
GT-'93
June 16th, 2011
8:09 am
@let’s go Jackets
Concerns quite valid. The drop-off in capabilites between Nesbitt and Washington are “significant” to say the least.
Let’s hope Vad Lee is a fast learner.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 16th, 2011
8:19 am
There are pluses and minus’s to playing your opening game in a national spotlight situation against a traditional power.
Pluses;
exposure on a national stager
good revenue source
If you win, it increases your stature in the NCAA
It can excite your fan base
It can help your recruiting
Minuses;
If you lose big, you can demoralize your team
You give up a home game against a cupcake and a sure win
That first game, with an out of conference opponent, can haunt you if you lose it all year, in rankings
You risk injury if you play a superior team, and they are superior in size, conditioning and athletic ability
Scheduling your toughest opponent most likely for the year, in your first game of the season makes for a bad outcome
I could see maybe playing a tough non-conference game after you have played a few other games, but I am not sure it is good unless you fell you can win the game handily. Let’s face it. Alabama is a tall order for any team but to open against them in a showcase game, might just be a no win situation. It is a high exposure game on national TV and recruits will be watching it also. If you get handily beat, by the other team, do you think that is good for recruiting. What if you go on and win your conference after a loss to a non-conference team. How does that look, to the football world then. Does that one game, early in a fall campaign, mean that the conference as a whole, is not on par with the winning teams conference? Does it affect bowl games at the end of the season?
I don’t blame CPJ for expressing reservations about it. There might be too many negatives, to make it worth while over all.
WnE
June 16th, 2011
9:00 am
re:
It Ain’t Rocket Science
June 16th, 2011
8:19 am
_________________________
Last yr. Chizik down at Auburn made $2.2 Mill and he led Auburn to a MNC playing Teams like Bama, L$U, USCe, Ga. etc, last yr. CPJ at GT made $2.3 to $2.5 Mill depending on bonuses and he delivered a 6-7 Record and a LOSS to a friggin’ Service Academy.
My point is, is that if CPJ and his Agent can hi-jack the GTAA for big time MONEY, then CPJ needs to play BIG-TIME GAMES vs. tough opponents to EARN THAT MONEY.
If CPJ wants to tap dance around and schedule like a Service Academy (Elon, MTSU, SC State, etc.) then he needs to take a PAY CUT commensurate with playing a crappy OOC Schedule.
Once you get the big bucks, and $2.5 MM at GT is considered “big-bucks”, then you need to earn that money by playing the big-boys of CFB.
GT-'93
June 16th, 2011
9:02 am
Our program is in NO SHAPE, SITUATION or POSITION to open with any quality opponent on national television.
Last live broadcast we had, we embarrassed ourselves against AIR FORCE!!!
Terrible for recruiting.
WnE
June 16th, 2011
9:23 am
re:
GT-’93
June 16th, 2011
9:02 am
________________
How can that be?
When CPJ was hired in Dec. 2007, many/most/d@mn near ALL GT Fans claimed that by the time CPJ’s 4th season came he would be “competing for a MNC”.
Now we’re entering the 4th Season and those same folks are now saying, “I’ll be happy with a 7-5 or 8-4 record AND a close loss to ug@”.
IF CPJ has really recruited better than Gailey as the Kool-Aid drinkers have claimed, then playing Bama 2-miles from BDS@HGF should be no problem at all.
So CPJ has Recruited better than Gailey, yet when the time comes to play a team like Bama OOC, then we find out that our “Program” isn’t ready for that level of opponent.
I’m not attributing any of those comments to you GT-93, I’m just repeating what was said in general about CPJ a very short time ago.
superDawg
June 16th, 2011
9:26 am
and macroid still can not believe UGA beats the mighty jackits every november.
GT-'93
June 16th, 2011
9:29 am
Anyone who uses the words “Coach Johnson”, “recruiting”, “better”, “well” or “adequate” in the same sentence is homer with blinders.
Our roster is half-full of players that belongs Div I-AA thanks to his poor efforts.
I think CPJ is hard-headed. He wears the “I can win with sub-par talent” logo like a badge of honor.
blazer
June 16th, 2011
10:12 am
the people over there should worry about third place in the mighty sec east and
going 6-6 again! should they worry about the gators, too?
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 16th, 2011
10:21 am
WnE,
I see your point sort of, but I still maintain it could be a no win situation for GT. Why risk a loss opening day, when your team is new and you need to see how they might work together first, since no practice ever really shows you that all the way. I don’t see anything wrong with opening up in a conference game and then by your fifth game or so, play a tough non-conference opponent. Schedule fill in games with weaker opponents further into the season, where you can maybe rest some of your starters and let a few folks clear up some little nagging injuries that accumulate over a tough campaign. Then get back into your conference schedule, a little better for the easier games and be ready to kick some butt, and get the trophy.
Moobs Johnson
June 16th, 2011
10:22 am
Must be bad to be in a conference where a 1-AA team beats the conference champ.
GTfan2011
June 16th, 2011
10:38 am
I’ve quit coming on here, but every once in a while I have to return to make sure all the readers realize who WnE really is. Fact: he accosted one of our recruits on Twitter telling him NOT to come to GT so much so that he was asked to stop. Fact: he continues to spill his vitrol and hatred for CPJ and our beloved Institute using the exact same language that any UGA fan would use.
I’ll let the rational folks here draw there own conclusions on WnE, but I just wanted to make sure that everyone has the facts.
WHITE and GOLD
June 16th, 2011
11:02 am
@Lunch Money NOW, Nerds!… I’ll give you an extra 5 dollars if you can actually take my lunch money… that should help put some gas in your pick-up or get you a couple cans of skoal.
WnE
June 16th, 2011
11:54 am
re:
GTfan2011
June 16th, 2011
10:38 am
___________________
Are YOU happy with GT continuing to run scared from Bama, and instead looking for the “right opponent”?
Are you happy that GT is paying a Head FB coach $2.3 to $2.5 MM per yr. to play W. Carolina, Elon, SC State, MTSU , Vandy, and other patsies while also playing in a WEAK, crappy acc(small case on purpose)?
Chan made $1.0 Mill while facing MUCH TOUGHER ug@ Teams, a MUCH TOUGHER acc, and playing a much tougher OOC Schedule with games vs. Auburn & ND, also when Chan was HC Miami was still a top-10 Team.
You don’t ramp up the HC’s pay (CPJ) like that unless you play a tougher schedule to sell out more games to generate the necessary Revenue.
GTfan2011
June 16th, 2011
12:56 pm
WnE,Your comments finally made me realize something about you. You have NO IDEA why GT (or any other school) has a football team do you? You really believe that our football team is here to win national championships. The GTAA and the football team are an extension of the Georgia Tech brand. Now, I’ll agree that the football team should strive for excellence, but it should do within the context of its primary mission, which is to represent Georgia Institute of Technology in the field of athletic endeavors. Georgia Tech is a research focused technical institute in the southeastern U.S. The Georgia Tech football team is an extension of that brand. Some other schools (Alabama is a good example) might be their state’s primary broad-based ciriculum university. So within that context, you could see why winning football games (at any cost) might be more important to Alabama’s brand than it might be to Georgia Tech’s brand, because the broad based appeal of having a winning football program has more of a positive stigma on the University, particularly in the state of Alabama, while having a losing program has much more of a negative stigma, particulary as compared to Georgia Tech. In Summary, if Alabama loses a football game, that has much more direct negative ramificaions on the value of Alabama’s brand than if Georgia Tech loses a football game.
In addition, if you believe that decisions to play opponent X or opponent Y are made simply because of a FEAR of the opponent on the field, then you are sadly naive to the business aspect of college football.
And so in conclusion, what you’ve said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
superDawg
June 16th, 2011
1:06 pm
blazer we damn sure don’t worry about the jackits.
GDBurdell
June 19th, 2011
8:22 pm
So tek “fans”, what exactly is the end game here? Do you all plan on defending tek with lame azz sarcastic comments after the first 0-12 season?
PJ will not better last years record of 6-6, it is impossible. Maybe daffy duck can redshirt and get in the masters program. tek sucks at fb and tek is a crap school to boot.
GDBurdell
June 19th, 2011
8:26 pm
haha when will the dot start paying these nerds a high enough starting salary to fix all of the traffic and infrastructure problems that atlanta doesn’t have?