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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 1, 2008

Rashad Johnson

CHUCK DUNLAP: Can you just talk about your general thoughts about facing the Gators in the title game?
RASHAD JOHNSON: I mean, I'm excited. It's been a while since Alabama has made it back to the SEC Championship, and to come in and be such a big stage with so much on the line, I mean, it makes the game more exciting for the players, more exciting for the fans. We know it's going to be a tough test. Those guys got a lot of great players on offense for our defense to contain them. And the same thing for or offense to move the ball; they have a great defense and a lot of leaders out there.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Tim Tebow and the challenge he presents, and how does he put pressure on the defense?
RASHAD JOHNSON: I mean, just being the great leader that he is, he makes everybody around him a lot better. For us, the biggest challenge is when he drives back the pass, keep him in the pocket and make sure we cover him down the field, because some plays I've seen him make, a guy misses a tackle and he'll launch it 60 yards down the field because the defenders will stop playing because they think he's sacked. We've got to keep playing until the whistle blows because with this guy he's able to make any play that a quarterback needs to make to win games.

Q. Just wondering what you think even watching the Gators or keeping tabs on them, I'm sure, this eight-game stretch they've been on, all the points they're putting up, they come into this game ten-point favorites on you guys. What are your thoughts on all that stuff?
RASHAD JOHNSON: They've been doing a good job with scoring points. Like you said, ever since the Ole Miss game they've changed completely, like a totally different ball club. They've got a good scheme on offense. If you miss a gap or you lose a seam, with those guys they'll get a step on you and they're gone. I mean, they make a lot of big plays.
For us as a defense it's going to be important not to give up the big plays to them because you see on the schedule that they have a lot of four-play, 70-yard drives and things like that, so if we can eliminate the big plays and try and make them drive the ball down the field, that's something that will benefit us.

Q. Are you guys using that as motivation, the fact that you're No. 1 but you guys are the underdogs in this game?
RASHAD JOHNSON: It's been like that kind of the entire season. It's always been that we haven't done enough. We're never pleased. Even if we have one guy saying that we shouldn't be No. 1, we're never pleased with what we've done so far, so we're going to continue to work. I guess it can give us motivation, but we're not going to approach this with any less focus or motivation already than what we've got.

Q. Can you talk about why you think your team was able to turn it around this year from 13 and 13 the last few years? What are the reasons why it happened?
RASHAD JOHNSON: I think the biggest reason, we've got a lot of guys that's very mature on this team and has bought into Coach Sabin's system. We believe in this guy, and he's going to win wherever he went, so we have no reason not to.
I definitely think that leadership is a big factor. We're affecting the other players in a positive way on the field and off the field, and when we're out there playing, we've got in our mind it's all about what we do, no matter what the other team tries to do. As long as we go out and play our game, we actually believe that we can win any game.

Q. Coach Sabin was saying last night that that first year is always tough because the seniors don't always buy in, and then the second year the guys who have been juniors are now seniors and they've either bought in or they're gone. Do you think that's the case, where the juniors who became seniors really bought into what was going on?
RASHAD JOHNSON: Definitely. Last year we had some things that we were disappointed about, and we really didn't do it the way Coach Sabin wanted us to do it, and we saw the results. We ended up going 7 and 6 last year, and once the summer came around, the off-season, you could just see a different look in the guys' eyes, of the seniors now, and the way that we're working just trying to get better every week, and everybody bought into the system.
As soon as spring ball came around, you could just tell the difference in the ball club. I think the off-season program helped us a lot, too. We got a lot stronger and a lot faster, which definitely could contribute to the wins that we're having this year.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about Coach Sabin as a person and what it's like to play for him, and do you feel like he's a little bit misunderstood from people who don't really know him?
RASHAD JOHNSON: I definitely think he can be misunderstood from people who don't know him. The kind of impression we got at first was Coach Sabin, our coach, we're kind of excited, then we're kind of like, we've heard so many stories about what he's done to players and things like that.
I respect him more than a lot of coaches that I've ever been around because he's consistent. Every day he comes in and he's the same person. He's always going to be about perfection when we're in the meeting rooms. He's always going to be about perfection on the field. You always know what you're getting every day; you don't have to worry about a different guy coming in and out. He's all about making guys better, and it's not all about on the field. He has a plan for everything he does, as far as in the classroom. He's trying to make sure guys are graduating, going to class, and I mean, I definitely think that means a lot to our players to see our head coach that cares so much about us.

Q. I wonder if you noticed after Florida lost to Mississippi the comments that Tim Tebow made that day.
RASHAD JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, they were all over the media and everything. I mean, everybody noticed them. I think, you know, he meant what he said. He's doing a great job of leading his team, and he's not going to let anything come in the way of them trying to achieve their goals. I mean, we have goals, as well, on this end. So that's why it's going to be such a great match-up. We're going to have two teams that are committed to doing things the right way, and everybody is going to put everything they've got on the line to make sure they come out with a victory.

Q. Number one, are you surprised that they kind of did win the rest of their games after he said all that stuff? And number two, how many players can you think of that would stand up in public, at least, and say stuff like that, and apologize and say no team is going to play harder than us the rest of the season?
RASHAD JOHNSON: I mean, you probably won't find too many players. He plays the perfect position to be able to do that. You won't find a defensive lineman to say that or a corner to say that. So much of the game is in his hands, so he was able to make those statements and say nobody is going to put us down. He has the ability to change the ball game at any point because the ball is in his hands so much as an offensive player. You can just tell the team drives off of him and his passion for the game.
I mean, I wasn't surprised that they came out and won the rest of their games after that comment. They have a great team, and great teams sometimes slip away from what they've known of doing well and sometimes end up with a loss.

Q. This was asked a little bit earlier, but Coach again, talking about his second year, what was it like that first year and why do you think you guys had the kind of slump there at the end, even with Coach Sabin and after the good start you got off to, and was there a turning point that kind of led everybody to believe in what he wanted to do?
RASHAD JOHNSON: Last year that big slump, after we lost the game to LSU, there was just a lot of guys buying in and guys not buying in. I mean, it was just conflict amongst the team. It wasn't like confrontations or things like that, but you could just tell that some guys were going to do it their way and other guys were going to do it Coach's way. That's not going to work if everybody isn't on the same page and sell out for one cause and be committed to that cause. That definitely caused some problems in the last games of our season.
I think the biggest turning point would probably have to be after the season was over with and we saw where that got us. We lost four games in a row, ended up 6 and 6 and going back to Shreveport to play in a Bowl game again that we had been to last year. We came and we wanted bigger goals that year and we didn't achieve them.
I think that was the biggest turning point when everybody saw what we're doing, it isn't working. We need to make a change, everybody needs to buy in, and I think we did a great job of doing that in preparation for the Colorado game. I think we came out and played a better game than we had played in a while after going on that four-game losing streak.

Q. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about your journey as a player, your decision to walk on at Alabama, and if you could envision then becoming a playmaker for the team and one of the best players on a team that's ranked No. 1 in the country.
RASHAD JOHNSON: It was definitely a wild journey. I started out with a few offers at some Division II schools and things like that, and me and my dad and mom all sat down and talked about it, and I felt like I could play at the Division I level, even if it was just on special teams or just helping the team out in any way. We made the decision to come and walk on here at the University of Alabama. I was an Alabama fan when I was young, so I was just living a dream there in itself.
Once I got here, it was just going out every day and working hard, just trying to do everything the coaches told me that would help me to improve my game, and once I got the opportunity to play on special teams for a year, it made a difference in making plays. I got offered a scholarship and got moved to defense because they were opening spaces, like Roman Harper and Charlie Peprah were both graduating who were starters for three or four years, so it was an opportunity tore me to get up and get the play there.
Once I got the field and got to playing and Coach Sabin got here, he improved my game so much, just little things, helping me out in the mental part of the game, and I was just able to learn from him so much and be able to take it on the field every week. And now here today, I mean, I couldn't envision being put in the position I'm in right now from where I started. It truly is a blessing. It had to be someone other than me who put me in this position.

End of FastScripts

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