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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 21, 2011

Paul Johnson

COACH JOHNSON: Good morning. I think that our spring practice has been productive. When we started the spring we outlined a few areas that we wanted to really concentrate on specifically, but more in general terms, we wanted to just try to get better as a football team and gain some experience in certain positions.
We've got a lot of young guys, and I think we've accomplished a large part of what we set out to do. I think the guys who have been starters and played for the most part got better. We've had a chance to take a good look at some of our younger guys who we've been excited about and we thought were pretty good athletes.
So all in all it's been a productive spring. You always battle guys getting banged up and beat up a little bit. We'll try to play the spring game Saturday if we can survive with enough bodies.
I think this day and age it's always a challenge getting through spring that way.

Q. How much of an edge does Washington have in getting the starting job this fall with the experience that he gained from last year?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, at this point in time right now he probably has a significant edge. Certainly there have been days in spring that have looked really good. I think he's a really good athlete. And there is no question, I think, physically he can do what we need him to do.
But Tevin's got a pretty good jump on him. He's been here now going into his third year. He's had a lot of reps and a lot of turns, started the last six games a year ago. So the experience factor is definitely in his advantage.

Q. What are your expectations heading into this spring game?
COACH JOHNSON: Hopefully nobody gets hurt. I think that once you finish spring, the spring game is more about letting them play a little bit and having some fun.
We've divided the teams up as equally as we can, and just let them play. We'll base our progress in the spring and what we think about people more so off the whole body of work than we will a little spring game that we're going to play just to have some fun.

Q. In terms of finding a successor to Anthony Allen, how has that process been going this spring?
COACH JOHNSON: That's going well. That could probably be the deepest position on our team. We've got four guys who we feel can step in and play that position. You know, coming out of spring, probably Preston Lyons and the young red shirt freshman Charles Perkins are at the top.
Richard Watson has played there, and we moved David Sims who had been a quarterback to that position. I feel good about all four of those guys that can play. So I think that that position will be fine.

Q. Developing Washington, has there been certain improvements in certain areas you were hope to go see this spring?
COACH JOHNSON: He's done a much better job this spring with ball security. Just valuing the ball and making better decisions that you would hope a guy would do that's played some now, and we've got to continue to grow in that area.
But the more he plays, the more comfortable he gets, the more he understands how the offense works and what he's trying to accomplish. So like with anything, you'd hope for the more reps, the better you'd get.

Q. You alluded to taking a look at a lot of younger players. Were there some that stood out to you and made favorable impressions?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, we've got a large nucleus of guys that we red shirted a year ago. We've got a chance to get a real good look at them this spring. We're encouraged by a bunch of them.
I hesitate. I mentioned Charles Perkins at B-back. You have Synjyn Days at quarterback. In the secondary we've got Louis Young who played a little as a true freshman, Isaiah Johnson who played as a true freshman, Fred Holton, Jemea Thomas is back off a red shirt year. A bunch of those guys, Quayshawn Nealy at linebacker. Jeremiah had a great spring. He played sparingly as a freshman.
So we have a lot of young guys that we've had a chance to go through a full spring with that we're excited about. We think they can be really good players.

Q. I want to ask about (Indiscernible) coming in next year. Is he going to be a quarterback? If so, is there any chance he can be in the mix depending on what happens preseason or is he a down the road player?
COACH JOHNSON: He's definitely going to be a quarterback. We recruited him to come in and play quarterback. I don't know, you know. Somebody asked me that. If you asked Thad, I think he would tell you he is. And that is the right attitude to have.
I kind of related it like this. He's been the best player on the field for a long time when he's played. How quickly can he adjust to how much faster the game is going to be? Because there are going to be a lot of guys that are good players on the field.
So I think that will be the key in how quickly he can play, how quickly he picks up and those type of deals. We're definitely excited about him. We think he has a bright future.

Q. Scott Blair's been pretty much your placekicker since you've been there. Can you talk about the race to replace him and what void that leaves losing a guy like that?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, we've actually got four kickers who are competing. And that thing's going to go all the way into the fall. We'll have a better idea coming out of fall camp.
Nobody has stepped up and distinguished themselves as moving away from the pack this spring.

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