COACH JOHNSON: Good afternoon. I’ll open up with a statement. We’re extremely enthusiastic about getting the season started. We’ll start up practice August the 7th. Right now we’ve got a bunch of guys working out and trying to get ready, try to take advantage of some momentum we have with our program. Coming off of a winning season and a Bowl win I think is a great motivator for us.
We’re looking forward to it.
Q. You had a winning season, you won a Bowl game. You get rewarded by having a schedule where you have to play 12 straight weeks. What did you do to get that?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think it all came about because of some scheduling problems we have with the MAC Conference a couple years ago. We were scrambling for some games. They had overbooked. Then finally, you know, Miami of Ohio worked with us real closely, did us some favors. That’s how we ended up going to Miami of Ohio last year. It just worked out that way this year.
I’m really not happy about it. I don’t think there’s anything anybody could do to avoid it. We certainly would have if we could have. In fact, you know, we tried to fix it up a little bit last year when we found out it would work out that way, but we just couldn’t get it done.
Q. Could you talk about the challenges of playing 12 games in a row. Do you have to do something different to keep your guys rested or healthy in the pre season? Talk about the breakthrough last year, what it means not coming here having to answer questions about the streak of non winning seasons?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, you’re right. It is a challenge to play 12 straight games. You have to plan for it, you have to be smart in the pre season, not just work ‘em to death.
The great thing nowadays with everybody being able to go to summer school, especially your freshmen now being able to go to summer school, they get in shape during the summer. Then we teach ‘em the playbook and the game plan in pre season practice. So it’s not that emphasis of getting them in shape that happens in the pre season practices any more. They’re in shape.
So hopefully we don’t have to hit ‘em a bunch in pre season practice. We don’t have to run ‘em after practice to get ‘em in condition. That’s been done. And then during the season, you got to be smart about any kind of contact that you have during the week and the length of your practices.
So, you know, you try to push that, there’s the risk of injury; just the risk of fatigue even if you don’t get injured. We’ll have to watch that closely.
The repercussions of our season from last year, you know, obviously I think it was the next stage we had to take our program, which was to go to a Bowl. It was a bonus to win it. We’re very pleased with that. I think it’s helped the attitude of our players, our fans, our donors, our head coach, everybody. It was very enjoyable.
I think hopefully our players know what it takes to get to that point. Hopefully we can continue to do that, work at the level that we need to work to make sure we have a chance to repeat.
Q. Can you talk about how you go into this season with your quarterback situation, how you feel about that? Towards the end of last season you were playing several guys.
COACH JOHNSON: Well, we played several guys because we had to. We were banged up a little bit at that position almost all year long. One would get well, then the other one would get banged up. We sort of had to put ‘em in there when we could.
I think that proves that we have to have more than one available, know the playbook, know the game plan for that week, and be ready to go in. Devastating things happen to your season if you don’t have one ready to go in there.
The guys we have at that position, we have great confidence in. MacKenzi Adams has played a bunch of games for us, has some big wins. He’s a competitor, likes to get out there and mix it up. Larry Smith comes in late in the season last year and helps us win the Music City Bowl. Had a great game there. Jared Funk, you know, we’ve got some confidence in him, if need be. He’ll get a chance to go in there and try to beat those guys out. But he’s got a great arm, had a great spring. He’s a tough competitor also.
We feel good about the quarterback position because we do have guys who have performed well in the past and we have a number of ones that we have confidence in.
We’re not gonna decide anything that early. I think it would be crazy to tell a guy he couldn’t have a chance to compete for a starting position when you start practice. So we’re gonna go out there, let ‘em all work at it, try to make ‘em better. If I know our guys, they’ll try to get better. So we look forward to that position.
Q. Do you mind disclosing who you voted for, for quarterback for the all SEC team?
COACH JOHNSON: Tim Tebow. I don’t know if y’all are going to find the culprit who didn’t vote. You could tell him it wasn’t me (smiling).
Q. As a coach that plays Florida every year, what is the scouting report on them entering this year?
COACH JOHNSON: They got a chance to be pretty good (smiling).
You know, obviously they got a great program, and have for years and years and years. You expect them to be one of the top teams in the country, especially with the people they’ve got going back, and especially with a proven quarterback.
A lot of advantages there for them. I think their coaching staff has proven that they can take advantage of them. They will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC.
Q. A lot of seniors back on both your offensive and defensive lines. Do you think those will be positions of strength for this squad?
COACH JOHNSON: I think so. We feel great about our defensive line. That’s traditionally been a really tough position for us to gain a lot of depth in, ever since I’ve been in coaching, to tell you the truth. So we’re very pleased, Greg Billinger, Adam Smotherman in the middle, played really well for us last year. Broderick Stewart, Steven Stone on the ends. We’re going to have some people to push them.
Our offensive line was a real scary part of our pre season last year, but our guys stepped up. They were young, but they had some enthusiasm. We think those guys are going to be a year better experience wise, so we should be much better on the offensive line. And I think we’ll be better at tailback. That’s gonna make your offensive line better, too.
Hopefully we can take advantage of those two positions that have some depth and experience.
Q. Would you talk about how having a winning season and winning a Bowl game translates into success on the recruiting trail?
COACH JOHNSON: Like I said I think every year I’ve been here, we have a fantastic product to go out and recruit with. We’re a top 20 rated university. We play football in the SEC. We’re in a great city in Nashville. Now you throw in the fact that we’ve had a winning season and we know what it takes to go to a Bowl game and win it, I think is an outstanding product to sell.
Right now, I think we’re being received very well in the recruiting battles. We think we’ve recruited well the last two or three years. We’re still gonna be in a position where we’re gonna be in a situation where we have to probably project guys, like we did with Chris Williams. Came in at 240, goes out 325, first round draft pick. Earl Bennett comes in not heavily recruited, and ends up being the leading receiver in the history of the conference. Those things still have to happen. But we’re much better on the food chain right now as far as recruiting is going.
Q. Your defense is pretty stacked for this year. You don’t have D.J. or Reshard in the lineup. How have you looked to replace those two guys?
COACH JOHNSON: You know, that’s college football. Guys come in, graduate, go to the pros now. D.J. was really an unusual football player. He was one of the best natural players I’ve ever seen. Reshard was a tough, hard nosed leader, big hitter in the secondary. Those guys are obviously tough to replace. That’s the job of the coaches.
We think we got some guys who are ready to take over. First of all, we got some good guys left. Ryan Hamilton at safety I think is an underrated player. Made some huge plays for us last year, is really a great leader. Myron Lewis, that y’all will have a chance to talk to today, I think is one of the best cornerbacks in the country. He’s big. He’s over 6’2”, almost 6’3”, over 200 pounds. He can run, he’s got great ball skills. I think he’s really relishing the role of the returning big play maker. Hopefully he can continue to do that.
At safety, we got Sean Richardson, who made some big plays for us on the special teams and played some last year and is ready to step up and take Richard’s place. Casey Hayward played for us last year as a true freshman and made some big plays in the Music City Bowl when D.J. was hurt and had to go out. Jamie Graham, who played wide receiver for us last year, we’re gonna move him back to corner. We think he is a quality player and may be used in the same way we used D.J. last year, sometimes stick him over there on offense and throw the football, too.
We’re looking forward to replacing those guys. I wish we had D.J. back for another year, but he’s gonna go on and I think do great things in the NFL.
Q. What you did last year, a lot of people out there thought Vanderbilt couldn’t do. Talk about how satisfying that was.
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think it was satisfying, but it was also necessary I think for our program to move forward. Anytime you do better than what you have been doing in the past, I think it’s satisfying, sort of a way to test your program to see if you’re making progress.
We probably had some chances the two previous years before that to make that step, and didn’t quite get it done, take advantage of our opportunities to do it. But I was really proud of the team last year. They stepped up when we had a lull in the middle of the season, came back, became Bowl eligible. I think they know what it takes.
Yeah, it is satisfying, but not satisfying enough.
Q. Talk about your SEC schedule. You open up this year at LSU before you play your home conference game.
COACH JOHNSON: Is that right (smiling)? Just kidding.
Whether you play ‘em second game, first game, 12th game, you know you got to go down to Baton Rouge and play. It’s gonna be a tough game. It’s an experience that our guys enjoy. Haven’t been in a few years.
But, you know, we’re looking forward to going down there and competing. It’s hard to say what order you want to play teams in the SEC because there’s no easy way to schedule ‘em. Again, we go back to the 12 games in a row. That’s probably the toughest thing we’ve got to overcome. And we have, you know, some very tough games in our out of conference schedule. Georgia Tech was a quality team last year. Rice I think won 10 games, or nine games, and a Bowl game. We’ve got some tough duty to go through not only SEC, but all across.
Q. Your thoughts just coming to these media days this year in terms of whether or not you anticipated a different level of respect coming off of the seven win season and whether or not some of the questions you fielded have sort of showed that respect?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, if I could do a Rodney Dangerfield (adjusting his tie), but I can’t. I’m not very good at his impression.
No, that’s not what we were seeking. We weren’t seeking respect. We were seeking to do as good as we could possibly do in our program. It comes with it. You know, if you continue to do if we continue to get better, I think people will know that we’re just not an automatic win any more and we can be considered a contender for a championship if we continue to improve.
I’m not that motivated by people patting you on the back and saying you’re doing real well. I like going back and talking to our team after we win games, talking to our fans when they meet you after an away game, they meet you back at the stadium. Those kind of rewards are a whole lot better than excuse me the press.
Q. Last season, having that winning season, on a personal level, what did that mean to you to reach that accomplishment? At the same time was there an instance in the off season where a fan or an alum came up to you, a memorable moment about that season?
COACH JOHNSON: Hmm, well, like I said, it was very gratifying to win the Bowl game, and really to get in it. That was our first goal. Then if we did get in one, we certainly wanted to win it. I was proud of our guys for getting that done.
The other thing, it was important for our program to do that. We needed to make that next step or we couldn’t prove to recruits, donors, fans that they need to support our program. That was extremely important.
But as far as one instance, no, I can’t say. But there have been many. There have been many. A lot of long suffering Vanderbilt fans, the best thing about it is that they appreciated the effort of our team last year, That meant a whole lot to me.
Q. There are several new SEC coaches this year, also several coaches going into their second year. What do you think that says about the league as far as expectations that fans might have, or at some of these schools where you are seeing a lot of turnover lately?
COACH JOHNSON: Everybody I think is impatient. They want instant success. Really proud of our administration for hanging in there with us. We had three horrible years my first three years there. We were I think 2 10, 2 10, 2 9, then they gave me a 10 year contract extension. You know, I think it’s great that they weren’t impatient.
But obviously it is. This is the way it goes in this league. It’s highly competitive. There’s a lot at stake. Everybody wants their team to win the championship. They’re willing to look into making changes to get it done. You can’t blame people for that either. That’s the way of life in the SEC.
But I’m just glad to be here for my eighth season coming up. Not a lot of people probably thought that was gonna happen, so nah.
Q. Some of the games you won this past year, exceptionally tight games. When you talk about taking the program to that next step, is some of that maybe winning those games a little bit more comfortably?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, you know, we won games like that and we lost games like that. That’s probably been the pattern the last three years with us, either heartbreakers won or heartbreakers lost for the other team. I think it’s gonna be that way forever.
As good as we can get at Vanderbilt, our program is gonna have to perform at a high level every week to have a chance to win consistently in this league.
You can probably say that for most teams in this league. If you have a bad game, maybe some of ‘em can overcome it. I don’t think we can right now. But we’d like to build our program that we can get it where one play doesn’t keep us from winning or one bad quarter doesn’t keep us from winning. If we can do that, that would be huge for our program.
Q. What do you see as the next step for Vanderbilt football? You talk about winning the Bowl game, having a winning season was the next step. Where do you go from here?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, the key thing is to maintain our momentum and make sure that we’re doing everything we can to give our guys a chance to win games. That’s the coaching staff’s charge.
The team, you know, has to make sure that they have their heads on right, they’re working hard, know what it takes to get back to a Bowl.
You know, I think the sky’s the limit for Vanderbilt, to tell you the truth. When we prove that we can win consistently, I think recruiting will pick up and we’re going to have the same quality team that the top tier teams have in our conference. We expect to compete for championships. To tell you the truth, we weren’t really that far from it last year. We were third in the East, fifth overall. We think that’s great progress for us. We can continue to make those kind of leaps and bounds, we’ll be very pleased.
Q. Somebody asked you about recruiting. Along those lines, have you broadened your recruiting base at all? Win any more battles with teams in the SEC this year than maybe you had before?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, we’re pretty much nationwide anyway. I don’t know if we can broaden it that much. I think we’re better known nationwide now, especially academically, the fact that we had a Bowl win last year, I think athletically our profile has gone higher.
Whether we’re winning the battles, you know, we don’t really pay attention to you know it, but we don’t really pay attention to who’s offered whom, this and this, who is winning the battle. We just go after the players that we really like, who we think they fit in our program, and just try to convince them to come to our place.
We recruit for Vanderbilt. We don’t dis recruit against everybody else, whatever you want to say that word is. That’s not a good word, but whatever. Anti recruit (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.
COACH JOHNSON: Thank y’all very much.
CB Myron Lewis
On winning the Music City Bowl:
“It brought excitement to the team. It put us on cloud nine. It was about being able to succeed and overcome obstacles. It had been 25 years since we had last made it to a bowl game. Being able to make it to a bowl game was a blessing and everybody is excited about it.”
On playing on ESPN:
“Growing up watching SEC football, I always wanted to be there, so just being able to play on ESPN and major television is exciting.”
On playing under Head Coach Bobby Johnson:
“Coach Johnson is a great coach. I love being around him. He recruited some great guys to help us win games. He is very understanding. He helped me so much in helping me make my decision to come to Vanderbilt, helping me learning the ins and outs of Vanderbilt University.”
On Vanderbilt academics:
“You always have to have the smarts upstairs. Being much smarter helps you out with studying more film, carrying the film to the practice field and to the game. It definitely helps us out.”
On Vanderbilt’s defensive secondary:
“We have Casey Heyward, Jamie Graham, Eric Sanders, Trey Wilson, and Ed Foster. We have some great players coming in that Coach Johnson recruited. Having them come in and learn the system will help us out.
On being at the SEC Media Days:
“It’s pretty fun. It’s a new experience for me, being in front of everybody and all the cameras. It’s exciting and I like it.”
C Bradley Vierling
On the offseason:
“This offseason has been successful. That really comes off the bowl game victory. Everyone’s confidence is really high. Everyone wants to get better. Everyone wants to get to another bowl game.”
On the SEC television contract:
“I grew up in Big Ten country, but I know that SEC football was covered a ridiculous amount just because I knew about the SEC. With ESPN picking it up, it’s going to blow up. It’s awesome. It’s great for Vanderbilt’s exposure. We’re going to be covered all the time.”
On the SEC:
“When it comes to bowl victories and national championships, the last three national champions have come from the SEC. We had nine SEC teams in bowl games this year. We always do very well when we’re put on the stage against other teams from other conferences. I think that is why we’re known as the best conference. In and out, the SEC is unbelievably competitive. You never know who’s going to win that game. Like Ole Miss and Florida last year, who would have known Ole Miss would win that game? Everyone thought Florida would go undefeated. Florida was playing great, but Ole Miss beat them. It might be Vanderbilt vs. Florida this year. You never know. It’s the best in the nation.”
On Vanderbilt’s team chemistry:
“We are very old. We’re an older team now, which is weird for us because we’ve always been a younger team. Last year we were a younger team. We have a lot of seniors in the locker room. We have a lot of backups coming back, which is huge for us. It’s always been Vanderbilt’s story that we always start well but falter towards the end and that we never had enough depth. Now we finally have that. We have starters coming back and reserves coming back. We have backups pushing for starting spots. It’s more competitive than it’s ever been.”
On Vanderbilt’s recruiting:
“When it comes to recruiting with us, you take the top tier guys and look at the grades. The guys that can’t cut it, you can’t even look at them. They have to go out there and find that diamond in the rough, both for football and academics. They can’t recruit like every school can. Their academic standards are not as high as they are at Vanderbilt. We are the only private school in the SEC. Vanderbilt has some of the best academics in the nation. If you don’t go to the NFL, you have a Vanderbilt degree to fall back on and that’s a great opportunity to have.”
On Vanderbilt’s offense:
“Right now we just changed to the no-huddle. I don’t really know how to describe what we are. Whatever we did last year just wasn’t working. We were one of the worst teams in the nation when it came to offensive production.”
On Vanderbilt’s offseason conditioning:
“We’ve been conditioning really hard this offseason. We’re in the best shape this team has ever been in.”
On Vanderbilt’s quarterback situation:
“We’ll see who comes out in that quarterback battle. They’re all great players and we’re excited about what all they can do.”
On coming to the SEC Media Days:
“This is awesome. I like talking to the media. I like doing this. I like giving the media the players a player’s perspective.”