Transcript: Brian Johnson On Florida Gators Unstoppable Offense, South Carolina Job and the O-Line
Florida Gators Offensive Coordinator Brian Johnson met with local media on Monday to discuss the No. 6 Gators unstoppable offense, growth along the offensive line and if he'd be interested in the open South Carolina job.
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WHEN DID YOU KNOW KYLE WAS REALLY COMFORTABLE ENOUGH IN THE OFFENSE TO KNOW WHY YOU GUYS WERE DOING CERTAIN THINGS WITHIN THE OFFENSE?
"Yeah, I think the biggest deal is when you can really verbalize and ask questions about potential problems. 'What am I doing if this happens or that happens?' He's very diligent. He prepares his tail off. He understands the game. That's just really our teaching progression. We want to teach you what to do, how to do it. And then you see people start to really excel when they understand why we're doing what we're doing as an offense and you can anticipate what's coming next."
DIFFERENCE IN BEING WELL-PREPARED, IS THAT NEXT STEP IN A PROGRESSION?
"Yeah, I think so. Obviously you want to be prepared, but when you can basically understand what's happening before it happens and you can play with that type of confidence it really carries over to the entire team and you have a chance to play really, really well if that happens."
HOW HARD TO CREATE ADVANTAGEOUS MATCHUPS WITHOUT KYLE PITTS?
"Kyle is a tremendous player. He's one of the best players in college football. So any time you're missing him, it's obviously a huge loss. But at the same time we have some very talented players and they're all waiting and ready for their opportunity when their number is called. Can't say enough about Kemore and Zipp, those guys have done a tremendous job filling in. And the rest of our skill players as well on the offense. Just by design the way the offense is, you never know who's going to have the hot day. Just the way that Arkansas played defense in our particular gameplan, the ball went to our outside guys, the outside receivers, and those guys made a bunch of plays and had some big touchdown catches. The whole deal is just to be ready when your number's called. Who knows when that will be, but you have to be ready to go at all times. Any time the ball could come your way because we try to get it to the open guy."
HAS O-LINE KIND OF QUIETLY BECOME A TEAM STRENGTH?
"Those guys are playing really well. John does a great job getting ready to play. A lot of them have played a lot of football for us, and so they're playing with a ton of confidence and understanding the gameplan, understanding what we're trying to accomplish. Playing physical and knocking people off the ball and doing a great job in pass protection as well.”
How big has the Heggie move to center been?
“It’s been huge. He does a great job directing traffic and getting things set at the line of scrimmage. He just brings that experience. He can talk to both sides of the offensive line pre-snap and really just direct traffic and make sure we’re on the right guys.”
Vanderbilt is a team that hasn’t won a game and given up a ton of points. Also held A&M to just 17 points. Going against a team like that, how do you make sure the game plan and preparation stay the same?
“I think the biggest thing is regardless of who’s out there, you have to play to your standard. The challenge is to play to the best of your ability each and every play. I tell the quarterbacks about that all the time. Regardless whether you’re playing a middle school team or the Detroit Lions, it really doesn’t matter. Your team has to remain consistent in how you prepare. And you have to hold yourself to a really,really high standard in how you practice and get yourself ready for that game.”
It seems like every week when we ask Dan about Trask, he says he did a really good job managing the game. How hard is it to do and execute at the level he’s doing that?
“Well, it’s very difficult to do. And often times when we hear people use that term in reference to quarterbacks, in terms of managing, sometimes it has a negative connotation to it. But we don’t view it that way at all. It’s our job at that position to manage the offense. That can mean a variety of different things -- making the right play at the right time, understanding what the team needs at that moment, putting us in position to be successful, move the ball and score points. We always take that as a compliment and it’s something he’s done a fantastic job of understanding the flow of the game, understanding how to play complementary football and putting in position to be successful on offense.”
Taking away the negative connotation, what allows him to do that so well, how much is it physical and how much is it mental?
“It’s both. He actually has the ability to make all the necessary plays out there on the field. He has a great mental capacity as well to understand different checks and what we’re doing to put us in position to create match-ups and take advantage of those match-ups as well.”
Could you talk about the end of the first half, Trask threw his fifth touchdown pass and Dan is getting on his case and how that speaks to you holding them to a high standard? “That is always room for improvement. I’ve been around football for a really long time and I don’t know if anybody has played a completely perfect game. We’re constantly coaching and he’s obviously very, very receptive and he loves to be coached. And he was playing really, really well, but we still had some stuff we could continue to clean up and get better at. And it’s just a constant reminder that we’re going to hold each other accountable to a really, really high standard by our performance and our preparation.”
Do you approach Kyle differently than Mullen? Not as hard? “I wouldn’t say that. I think we do a great job of playing off each other. Sometimes there’s some good cop-bad cop. For us, the destination is the same, of what we want to accomplish and what we want to get to. And then it’ll flip. Sometimes I’m the bad cop, and sometimes he’s the good cop. I think we have a great chemistry and connection of what we’re trying to get accomplished, and Kyle’s done a great job putting himself in position to go out there and make plays. But mostly between series, I think we’re very dialed into what’s next and what are we calling next, what are the looks we’re getting? We obviously want to go over the previous drive and make any necessary adjustments with what you’ve got coming up next drive.
What’s it say about Kyle who wants to be coached up and get better? “For sure. He has a great demeanor and attitude. He carries himself in such a poised manner. It’s really no surprise he really enjoys being coached. He loves football. He wants to be a great player. And he put sin all the work necessary to accomplish those goals.”
What has Stone done to take a big jump from year to year? “I think just his natural understanding of defense and giving yourself a chance before the ball is even snapped, understanding what moves you’re going to get. Where’s your help? Where’s your leverage? Just really studying your opponent and your guys and what they like to do and how can you use your technique to defend what they’re trying to do to you. He’s done a great job. Actually we’ve done a lot of guys in this offense that have been in this system now for three years, and they really understand where a lot of these guys are a graduate level in terms of understanding the offense. And so now you’ve learned some tricks of the trade. He’s done a great job. He’s had a fantastic year, and the challenge is to make sure you keep going.”
How much of a luxury is it as a play caller to have a left tackle like that? “For sure, especially in this league because you have so many dynamic pass rushers, and when you have a guy that you’re not concerned about leaving one on one on the line for as much as we throw the football, it’s definitely a huge positive.”
Good for Anthony to get that first pick out of the way?
“Yeah, for sure, good to get all those guys in the game. They had a great week off practice and prepared really well. It was good to see those guys get some game action. I was really excited to get Emory in for like a series and he played within the normal flow of the game, but just to kind of let him loose and run the entire offense for a series. Drove us down, made some spectacular throws. The throw to Xzavier was really, really good on the touchdown throw. He had some really nice throws and he brings that really dynamic presence in the natural flow of the game and his scrambling ability and his ability to extend plays and make different things happen.”
South Carolina job is open, you're name came up. Are you ready to take a head coaching job?
“Good question. All that stuff is really flattering, but obviously you’ve got a job to do and our focus is on getting ready to play Vanderbilt and go out there and continue to play well on offense and play at a really high level.”
Has been there been one play from Trask that separates him from other QBs?
“Yeah, there was really two in the last game. To me, the great throws are easy to point out. It’s somewhat low-hanging fruit. He’s made some spectacular throws throughout the course of the season. Two plays from Saturday that I really appreciate as his coach is we called a couple of plays where we had an out cut and he checked it down to Malik Davis for 12 yards. Just talking about him really taking what we talk about in the meeting room and applying it to the practice field and then going out and executing it on game day and having him do that at a high level is obviously really, really good. He’s done some things where he’s gotten us in the right plays. He’s checked the ball down appropriately. We talked about just having patience both from my standpoint in terms of calling stuff and his standpoint of not putting us into a situation where we behind the sticks against this team. Just with the particular style off defense that Arkansas played, we knew going into the game that there might be drives where we have to go on a 12-play, 14-play drive and be really patient, take what the defense is giving you and move the ball down the field 5 to 6 yards at a time and there wasn’t going to the massive, explosive 30-yard plays just because of how the defense was structured. Him being able to take all that in, digest in and then execute has been a huge positive.”
Teams taking away Kadarius Toney?
“He’s had catches. It’s just like we said: How the offense is designed, the structure of the defense really dictates where the ball goes. The last two teams that we have faces have obviously had quite the focus on him in the middle of the field. It’s allowed some of our outside guys to make plays one on one. He’s done a fantastic job of doing what we ask him to do. He understands coverage, he understands leverages. He’s having a great year. So I think it’s continuing to find different matchups for him so he can take advantage of them.”
What say about defenses focusing so much on Toney?
“Yeah, it shows that they watch tape. He’s made some unbelievable, spectacular players this year. He’s a nightmare in terms of his quickness, his agility, his ability to break tackles and his discipline as a route runner. So he’s had some big-time plays for us. They might not have been crazy, highlight-reel, explosive plays. But third-and-10 catch at the end of the game against Georgia is as big of a play as he’ll have all season. To win on that option route versus two-man. He had a huge third-down catch the other night; he ran a great route on third and, I think it was third-and-11, a little stop route he ran. He’s made plays to keep the drives moving and he’s been a huge weapon for us all year.”
Coaching on the field during the final five, six minutes against Arkansas, job done?
“Coach told me I could come on down. So we hustled down and got a chance to see the guys on the field. You rarely get that experience, there’s been a couple of times here where we’ve been able to do that. But it was good. We got a chance to get around the guys and it’s such a different energy on the field as opposed to being up in the box. So it was good to see everybody’s smiling faces and get a chance to look people in the eye.”
Did you get to soak in the energy?
“Definitely, definitely.”
Roll Kyle Trask is on when reflect on your playing days?
“He’s playing at a really, really high level. He’s having a great year. It’s really no surprise when you’re around him every day and see the work effort. You see how much time and effort he puts into being a great player. He takes care of his body. He does everything exactly how you want it done. It’s really no surprise that he’s had such a tremendous year.”
Two six-TD games, your best if five, pretty amazing given you played the position? “For sure, just those opportunities, to continue to get opportunities like that and take advantage of it and make plays. He’s been exceptional in every part of the game in terms of third-down, red-zone and guys have done a great job making plays and scoring touchdowns. Yes, it’s been really fun to be a part of. Actually still got a long way to go but he’s definitely off to a great start.”
Is this offense up there with your Utah offense? “It’s so unique you bring up that offense in Utah. It was in the infancy stages of spread offense and I think as the system has evolved we’ve developed a little bit more diversity in what we’re doing and how to exploit defense and create matchups in different ways. You go back and watch some of that stuff now, turn on the film from back in those days we weren’t getting the variety of defense that we’re getting now as well. So, the game has changed a little bit but no doubt both offenses were operating at a really high level and the quarterback played great.” Mullen is pumping you for the South Carolina job. “Who’s that?” Mullen is pumping you for the job, he retweeted Jordan Rodgers. Maybe he’s trying to get rid of you? “He probably is.” Did your five touchdown game, were they all in the first half? “Yes they did! Absolutely they did. I’ve got beef with coach Lud (Andy Ludwig) about that. It was San Diego State, 2008. All five in the first half. I don’t think I threw a pass in the second half. I’m still a little bitter about that if you can’t tell.” Justin Shorter hasn’t gotten volume of other guys but 3 weeks with a TD “He has unbelievable physical talents and gifts. He’s got great range, a great catch radius as well. He’s done a great job of making plays. When he’s in he takes advantage of his opportunity. That’s the beauty of our offense. Him and Tre Grimes play the same position. When you look at it in totality of the production that that position is producing, it might not be, individually it might not look great but if you combine, just like our running backs last week, if you combine those guys 10 catches for 212 yards, if it was one guy doing all that it would be unbelievable. The unselfishness that they play with and the unselfishness that Coach Mullen has instilling in the program I think is something that is very, very special.” Ever have four 6’4” or taller receivers to throw to? “I don’t think so.” Back up QBs, would it be nice to get them a whole quarter? “For sure. You want guys to try and gain as much experience as possible. Obviously you never know how the game is going to turn out or what’s going to dictate that. We talk a lot about controlling what you can control and making sure you’re practicing well and putting yourself in position when you do go in the game that you can operate at a high level.”
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