CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: GEORGIA VS TCU

January 7, 2023

Quentin Johnson

SoFi Stadium

TCU Horned Frogs

Press Conference

Q. To start, Quentin, reflect a little bit on your path here.

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Toward the end, the middle of the end of my high school career for sure. Obviously, at first, I kind of was up and down, really trying figure out what sport I wanted to play. I was big basketball guy so I seen some future in basketball. It was nothing ever really planned out so I was going with the flow at that point.

Played freshman ball. Moved up to varsity my sophomore year are. Didn't play. I was behind some great guys at Temple so I really didn't get the opportunity to play my sophomore year.

Junior year is when things started kicking up for me. Started getting offers, and kind of builds up from there. So the basketball part of it was out the window and at that point, I was playing that for fun.

Making my decision after that, going to which college felt like home. Obviously, kind of a struggle for me because it was something -- not only me, but every high school player goes through that, goes through this process because, I mean, like essentially you you're making a decision that's going to affect rest of your life.

So at the end of the day, I felt like TCU was that, and I could, you know, confidently sit here and say I've made that decision that is the best to help me throughout the course of my career.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Obviously, with the new coaching staff, it's been a big incorporation to us as a team and a big part of why we're here today. Obviously, the old coaching staff had a big part in that too. But I feel like the nutritional, Coach Kaz, the strength and conditioning coach, Coach Riley, Coach Dykes. The raised our offense, you know, as far as offense goes. They really helped us a lot and helped expand on our game.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Obviously, we had the football camp and stuff at first. I was always doing my thing out there. I wasn't always a vocal dude. I was quiet and stuff. Then actually kind of surprising, it was like that's over. We're going to go eat, then we're going to have a dunk contest.

Me, like I said, being a basketball guy, I'm like kind of lit me up right there. So I'm like all right. Everybody talk about what kind of dunks they're going to do. Everybody talking I was sitting there. They're like, what kind of dunk you going to do? I was like probably, you know, a regular dunk. Trolling a little bit. The first dunk, I went out and put it under both my legs and dunked. Everybody is like, where coming from with that? And everybody was shook from there. Then came with that between one of my legs. Everybody was like, yeah, he won. I got a little trophy and picture from that. That was a cool experience.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. As far my high school, Coach Kelly wasn't the first one that came up from TCU, started coming to my high school to recruit me so I didn't really -- like I knew about him sort of. But obviously, you don't know somebody kind of -- relationship is kind of rocky. After he started showing up day after day, I did commit to Texas at first, but he was always there. He told me specifically after one of my games, like, I'm got going to let you go, not going to give up on you.

That that stuck out to me, which helped me lead to my decision of committing to TCU. Since I've been here, we've had a game plan from the time I stepped on the field to the time I get ready to leave. All I have to do is trust it. I trusted in him, you know, that he had my best interest at heart and kind of went from there.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Obviously, there was some holes and stuff. At the same time, they played against good receivers. LSU, Ohio State. So, you know, as far as the defense as a whole, I see a lot of speed. Sound minded as far as football, you know. They know the defense really well and they're a good team.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. So obviously, leaving never crossed my mind. People came up to me, asking me, kind of assuming -- I think there was an article that came out, we heard Quentin Johnson thinking about leaving. I don't remember ever telling anybody that. But obviously, I came here because of the longevity that Coach P and this coaching staff built.

By the time they left, that time, I didn't just fall in love with the football program. I fell in love with the TCU community as a whole. It was hard to up and leave that. So yeah. And then plus, you know, I mean, like I built relationships with people on the team, my brothers and stuff that I came in.

Obviously, my class came in COVID, with the COVID year, so we didn't really get that college experience. The guys I came in with, I felt like I built a strong relationship with them because we didn't have anything to do but talk to each other every day, get to know each other on a personal level than I feel like we would have if that wouldn't have happened. So, yeah, I feel like that's pretty much what it is.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: I mean, like when I look back on it now, I for sure think it is. I mean, because like it will be easy for anybody to up and leave because the situation looks rocky, because the situation looks rocky, that doesn't always mean it is. It's just, you know, a whole lot of unknowns that you'll just have to go through to, you know.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: It wasn't not reaching it to my high school coach, but it was different schools I had offers from coming out of high school and then schools with coaches that was out of school that offered me but kind of left and went somewhere else. It was kind of a thing like that.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. Yeah, they did it like GAs and stuff, our coach was talking about you during coach's meeting. That's cool.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: No. Obviously, I was offered money and that type of stuff like that, but I feel like it's more than just a paycheck.

Q. How much?

QUENTIN JOHNSON: A lot. I can't even -- it was a lot.

Q. (No microphone).

A. For sure, for sure. Obviously, being a receiver, seeing holes and stuff in the defense, saying something, I can't come into the game expecting it to happen just like that, you know. Obviously, this is the championship. They're going to have some things tighten up as well as us. So, you know, I mean, it looks good on film. But, I mean, it's a different week, it's a different day so I don't doubt in my mind that they're not going to have that stuff fixed, which I'm sure they will. We're going to have to come through and play our best game on that date.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Um-hmm. I mean, with every fiber of our being, we for sure do. We've been counted out for so long and so many things as far as college football sports, period. A lot of people don't think the big 12 has what it takes to have certain things. We've proved that. We have to come out, keep proving it.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: No. I mean, nobody specific, but I feel like all together, just their secondary altogether brings a certain force that, you know, that's elite.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: As far as offense? Starting off the field, you know, with Coach Dykes coming in and letting us have some type of freedom and stuff like that, he really enforced a brotherhood before football. We did a whole bunch of team activities off the field.

Like even after each practice, he made two, three, four guys come up and just tell their, you know, story, like whatever they wanted to say with the team. At the end of the day, if you're able to be vulnerable with somebody, that gives somebody another reason to fight for you that much harder. I felt starting like that was the base of our season we're having this year.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: I mean, like you said, it's nothing against Coach P because he was and still is a great coach. I feel like at the end of the day, at this point in time, it was for us -- with the incorporation of Coach Dykes, it just gave a change. I'm not going to say something new or something better. But just a change I feel like we really needed.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Just starting with Coach Kaz and his staff. He came and just implemented a different level of discipline into us. I mean, like we, felt like we had discipline in the past, but obviously we didn't really know how much we needed. But just, yeah, just him instilling that into us from the beginning, it's really paid off in the season.

Like some of the close games we won this year, like OSU game, Baylor game, you know, coming down to it and looking back on it last year, those two games are probably the ones we wouldn't have came away with just because, like, we'll either be down by a certain amount or we'll be right there, and we always find a way to lose those games. I feel like him instilling that into us, you know, helped us push through those games.

Q. About that mindset, how would you define that mindset?

QUENTIN JOHNSON: I mean, it's a mindset that you have to kind of be selfish, but not as selfish as far as sharing that mindset with your teammates. If you're selfish, you have that mindset, but you don't motivate everybody else to have that mindset. I mean, it's no good. That's when you have cracks in the team. That's when -- you have a certain amount of good players, but if you mix that with a certain amount of players that it doesn't click for them, that creates a bad team. It creates like a cancer to the team that you have players not liking each other and the whole team chemistry is just off.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Oh, yeah. And I didn't do that so somebody can come up and take my picture. Obviously, that was something that hurt, you know, very deeply. Not only me, but my team. And I told myself before the game, I'm going to watch the confetti drop whether it's in our favor or not. Obviously, it would have been better if it was in our favor.

But I kind of just wanted to stay there for the moment and just take all that in and just feel that hurt in me as well as congratulate the other team because I feel like it would be selfish of me to go head to head with them for the second time this year and not congratulate them. Because at the end of the day, it's a football game. I want to, you know, let them know how good they did in their game.

But yeah, I kind of took that with me, went home, kind of unpacked it, you know, tried not to dwell on it for too long because I knew we had more games ahead of us. Going into the next game, I kind of took the loss as a lesson and moved forward from there.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: For sure. Like I said, we didn't really dwell on it too long. We were kind of down until, you know, the very next day when we seen our name called. So after that, we kind of just analyzed film, realized that that was really our first time as a group that we've been in a big game on a big stage like that. So, you know, obviously, with that comes stuff that you don't usually do in a regular game because you try to do too much.

Prime example, myself, in that game, I fumbled, caught the pass, tried to do too much, and my ball security was bad. That's definitely something I look back on, was like hey, look, just because you're on a big stage doesn't mean you have to be Superman. Do your job, which is what Coach Dykes instills in us all the time. I just learned to do the little things right in a big game like that, and we'll ultimately come on top.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Oh, yeah. That's crazy. Like that's obviously something we could pop up. Just to bring that up is very convenient to us, as opposed from having to go out your way and go up to the facility every five seconds to be up there for countless hours, which there's nothing wrong with it, but I feel like the overall convenience of it is just great.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. I mean, it wasn't too hard. I mean, like I mean just like with anything, if you take a little time with it, it wasn't too hard to get the hang of.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: I mean, it helped us a lot, but at the same time, if we didn't buy into it, just actually take it serious, it wouldn't have -- I feel like us buying into it like I wanted to learn more and wanted to learn and grow as fast as we possibly could with the new coaching staff helped us out a lot.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Probably a full work week. I ain't gonna lie to you. If I'm doing a 9 to 5 every day at a job, at a movie theater, that's probably how long I'm on that. Close to that. I done wore the app out almost.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Like I said, the convenience. I could pull it out anywhere. Like I'll be at dinner somewhere with my parents, like what are you looking at on your phone? I'm like, studying film right now. You can literally do it anywhere. But for me just, you know, like analyzing film of specific players and stuff like that. Like not only that, but going back and evaluating my practices, whether it's from individual drills to the team. Just evaluating myself, you know, like being my biggest critic, as far as being as hard on myself as possible so I can fix it the next day at practice.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. Like I said, you know, after we all bought into it, it had a big impact on us. Just, like I said, being real critical of ourselves and not letting our mistakes from the previous day, you know, linger to the second day.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Obviously, especially in our secondary, they fly out to the ball a lot. The defensive line very big, very physical. Also flies around to the ball a lot.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: So obviously, we've got to come into the game knowing it's going to be a track meet. As far as us as outside receivers, we got to be technicians in our work. We got to be very technical with the top of the route stuff, coming in and out of breaks. You know, just different stuff like that. And overall, just matching how physical they are.

Q. (No microphone). Going into this game what are the emotions like, knowing it could be your last game in purple?

QUENTIN JOHNSON: It's surreal. But at the same time, it hasn't hit me yet. This game or even the Michigan game hadn't really hit me. I'm pretty sure my teammates can say the same thing.

Just the relationships and stuff we built with the coaching staff, with the new players, the strong relationships we built with the people we already knew is just kind of surreal right now. But I feel like everything is going to just hit us not really 'til after the season, when we look back and be like, okay, this is crazy.

Q. Two questions. When you're growing up as a kid, is this a game that you've always dreamed of playing in? So much talent on the outside, how would you describe your game?

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Oh, yeah, for sure. Obviously, if your dream is to play football, like this is the type of game you play for. Yeah, I definitely believe it is. It's something that's, you know, incredible. Obviously, not a lot of people get to be here on this big of a stage. So, you know, right now, I look at it as a blessing.

And then, you know, the biggest part of my game, I feel like would be -- obviously, my speed is very deceptive. You know, with a lot of tall receivers, people don't expect you to be as fast as them, per se. And I feel like I bring that to the table. I mean, like obviously, the deep ball and stuff is cool, but I feel like my ground game is cool too, my yards after catch. I'm able to maneuver around, which is obviously been working out well for me this season.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. No, that's big not only for us, though, but for the people that came before us. So from 1939 and on, like, it's just huge for people now, TCU alum, the whole TCU community. It's just a big stage for us to be on and, honestly, it's an honor to be a part of.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: It would mean the world. If that happens, I probably won't be able to get in my house after that. It's going to be a party. It's going to be a lot of emotions. Joy, tears of joy, everything is going to accumulate to it at once.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. Just his dog mentality, his fight. Max is not hard to bring down. Max is not hard to just -- let me rephrase it. He's not the person just to lay down and quit. We could be playing the Baltimore Ravens right now. He would keep the same attitude throughout the whole thing.

I mean, just day in and day out, on the field, off the field, at practice or in the game, he's going to fight until he can't breathe no more. Obviously, in the Big 12 championship game, after you score, we run over to celebrate. He's like, "I can't breathe right now. I'm tired." We had to help him off the field.

So he's definitely going to give everything he has, which is obviously motivation for the rest of the team.

Q. I want to ask your match ups against the secondary. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Oh, yeah, for sure. At the same time, with the holes and stuff they had in their defensive pass game, we can't go into the game expecting that it's going to be the same thing for us. We got to expect that they're going to come into the game with those mistakes fixed and for them to play their best game. We're expecting to come out and play our best game too.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Oh, you know, like obviously, you know, with this name and notoriety, it would be a good matchup. Like I said, this is what you play football for. This is what you show up for is big moments like this. Shout out to him he's a good player too.

Q. (No microphone). How excited are you?

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. I'm excited to go up against them. I'd be excited to go up against any team in the National Championship. That adds a new step to it. If we were playing Georgia, Alabama, anybody. We were playing Michigan. I was excited to be there in the moment.

I feel like at that point, it's like you don't really -- I mean, like, you look at who you playing, but you're playing for yourself. You're playing for your team. You're playing for your family, the town you came from. You've got a lot riding on the game so you can't sit there and worry about who you're playing and their past success. So you know, right now, I'm just excited to be here.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. The transition took a minute. I mean, like as with anything, because everything was new. Like we didn't really know them. They didn't really know us. But, I mean, like after we decided, like, look, let's go, let's buy in, you know, everything was smooth.

And then obviously, you always have that just playing college football in general, it's like what do you want to do this year? Go win a National Championship. That's one thing to say, but it's so many odds stacked against you. Coming off a 5-7 year, having a new coaching staff, new strength and conditioning staff, having, you know, X amount of players transfer in, it's like the chemistry is ideally supposed to be like not what it should be.

You know, with the coaching staff like that, people expect they'll be good in a few years or stuff like that. But from the time they came in, they literally enforced into us, championship mentality. Every day, 5:00 in the morning, championship mentality. We weren't hearing that, let it go in one ear, out the other. We took it to heart and practiced like we were trying to get to a championship, which worked out for us.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Oh, yeah for sure. For sure. Desean Jackson in high school, when I was in -- this was peewee. Tayvon Austin, I watched him at West Virginia and

De'Anthony Thomas. Their speed, deceptiveness, quickness off the ball, quickness with the things they can do with the ball is something I've always looked up to for sure.

Yeah, for sure, I mean, because I didn't really hit my growth spurt until late so I was thinking I was going to be slot sized, kind of 5 whatever. So, you know, I was always modeling my game after them for sure.

Q. (No microphone)?

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Obviously, they found a lot of holes in our defense, were able to make a lot of big plays with a lot of big-time receivers. I feel like that one of the main things how they were able to come out and execute, you know.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, just overall maturing my game, doing little things right. I wasn't too bad last year, but I had things to fix. My deep ball was okay, but I didn't feel like I was consistent as I needed to be, which I kind of cleaned it up. Things like my yards after catch and then things when I don't have the ball, you know, my blocking, running downfield, kind of having a decoy around. So, you know, just the little things that kind of I need to put in place to make myself a better receiver.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: He's going to fight to the end, not stop anything from getting him the win at the end. His overall dog mentality gives the team more motivation to keep going.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Obviously, we've been with each other for a while so it was a good time for us, but we just had to apply the level of discipline that I feel like we needed this year instilled by Coach Kaz and Coach Dykes and staff. So I feel like that was a big part of that.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Obviously, just learning myself. When I first started getting a little tall, I was kind of awkward just because I wasn't used to having, you know, my legs up under me and stuff. So obviously, that took a minute to get into. As far as deep ball stuff, you know, you got to jump to everybody in the air, come down, get your feet down. For me personally, I feel like that came from basketball. I said I was a big basketball guy. I didn't hit my growth spurt until late. I was mostly always the tallest person on my team. So you're in the post, you got to back somebody down, shake one way, go the other way. Your footwork got to be good, and then your top half has to be loose too, shaking and baking and stuff like that. I feel like I was doing that for so long kind of translated to the football field.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I would say probably middle of my junior year. You know, going into my senior year, I was still kind of lanky and stuff like that. But especially when I came into college, I started eating more food and adding a bit.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: I feel like it gives me a different range of other than just being -- oh, yeah, he's a deep ball guy, and that's it. Oh, yeah, he's going to run the slant off third down, like that's it. I feel like I got more to burn.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: I'm not going to treat him any differently than I've treated, you know, any other DB. You know, going back to what I said kind of just at the end of the day being a technician of my routes. You know, if I'm going for a deep ball, attack his leverage, you know, make him feel uncomfortable, get up on him quick.

If I have a cutting route, in route, out route, give him something, not too many moves. Top of the route stuff. Just make sure I'm really crisp and I'm not all wild and wobbly on my routes and stuff. Just keeping everything tight and trusting my footwork and my ability.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: For sure. You know, personally for me, I feel like they're not a team to give up the deep ball easy. So, you know, you can disguise that, you know, have an end route or a curl route or just stop routes on there when they're not pressed up. So, you know, just, you know, shorter routes until they come down a little bit and you can possibly turn them into bigger routes, like the post or the goal or just whatever it is.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Honestly, I like to work for my bread for sure. Like I would rather -- I would actually much rather get the ball, have something to put on the highlights, you know. Somebody's mix tape with some Lil Baby in the background. So, yeah, I feel like that's what it is for sure.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: This year, for sure. For sure guy from K State. 23. That's somebody I've been having a long battle with since last year for sure. Obviously, you know, he's a bigger guy, about my height, maybe taller, 6'4", 205, 210, whatever he is.

I feel like it's just overall physical presence is something that I had to kind of learn to deal with, especially last year, he gave me some trouble for year. And then kind of going into this year, cool guy, but he's the type of guy, he's going to talk to you, try to get you off your game, press you off the line. Obviously, doing everything in his power to stop you from getting the ball, which I feel like towards the end of the year, I kind of started to figure it out, you know, and was able to maneuver through that. But him for sure.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Like obviously, you know, put the work in throughout the years. And I believe my ability, you know, thus far as going to take me where I need to go.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. And I'm not saying, like, we just, you know, kind of mess through practice and go to the water park after that every day, but it's more of like a, you know, a better -- I don't want to say mellow, but the environment is all around friendly. We have people at practice. We've got the music going loud. Like they allow us to dance at practice if people want to dance. Kind of get loose. At the same time, having that laser focus when it's time. I feel like that's something they instilled, and he kind of let us know from the beginning. He's not the type of coach to yell and scream at you every five seconds and stuff. At the same time, he wanted us to be sure to have laser focus on this time, and I feel up until this point, we've been doing just that.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. And obviously, with that, you know, me and my situation, COVID played a big part in that too because we couldn't move how we wanted to move so everything was kind of thrown off. I feel like it's a change. It was a good change for us for the program. You know, in those ways, we do a lot of stuff, you know, outside of football field to kind of just get us loose and kind of take our mind off it a little bit, and then we'll come back refreshed and ready to go.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: It's played a big role. We do a lot of off the field stuff, team bonding stuff, which I feel like has, you know, grown us as a team even more. We hang out a lot, do a lot of cool stuff. So, I mean, like at the end of the day, you want to get to know the person that's fighting with you on your left and your right. So you got to have that personal relationship with them, which I feel like what is we've done this year.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Hard working as far as practice goes. On the field stuff, will give you 110 percent. He's a great leader. He's not the type of person to always cuss you out. At the same time, when it's time to, he will be that person. But off the field stuff, great guy. Clean record, everything's good about him.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: But at the same time, it's like that happens. And you look up two plays later, and he's running for a touchdown. So, I mean, it almost became normal for us. Like yeah, we already knew he would give us 110 percent. As far as the injuries and stuff like that, he's bleeding and (indiscernible). I feel like that's his mindset too.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. You know, obviously coming off the last few years when we weren't always able to make that happen, it kind of just matured us in a way to, you know, like we've been in those types of situations before so it's like all right, like, you know, just go back to your base training, which we worked like scramble drills and stuff at practice.

But in the past, we kind of tend to kind of panic, like you said, and forget some of that stuff. It's all about maturing and being football-minded and just going back to your base level learning.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Towards the second half of the season, we were probably 8-0, 9-0, and then with the games ahead of us, we felt very confident going into them. We came through a lot of adversity. The games, liking like keep going back to the Baylor game, the OSU game, even the Texas game. That was by any means no easy game.

So I felt like after a certain point through the second half of the season, we were like, hey, we've got a chance. We overcame some stuff that theoretically we weren't supposed to overcome. I felt like that made us stronger as a team and had our mind in the right place.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Pregame warmup songs, it depends. Different songs for different days. In the locker room, I try not to get too hyped before going on the field, dancing and stuff. I play some R&B, country, stuff like that to kind of mellow everything out. When it's time to get on the field, I'll turn a Lil Baby, a Lil Wayne, something like that, sure.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. Obviously, going against that type of defense all year is what I feel helped mold our offense into what it is now. Obviously, there's some great players on that defense and his play style was something we weren't used to. I feel like, you know, I feel like in my heart and my mind, that's the best defense in this league and in college football. So we go against them every day. It's going to be hard to stop us.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: For sure. Prime example is last week, we played Michigan. Their press conferences and stuff like that, they were kind of chuckling at the fact that we ran a 3-3-5 defense, which is obviously something people aren't used to. If you're not used to something, you laugh it off and say it's going to be a walk in the park. I feel up until this point, a lot of teams found out it's the complete opposite.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Honestly, hasn't just hit me yet like I think it should. I feel like closer to game time, it will. You know, at the same time, you know, TCU, TCU community, big 12, Texas, my family, you know, just the list goes on. It's an honor. It's big. It's huge. Means a lot. We've got a lot of people rooting for us. Overall good.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: No. I feel like the nervous aspect of playing big teams in general has passed us now. We've been in so many big games that theoretically we weren't supposed to be in or were counted out of. At this point, we're keeping our heads to the ground and playing our best brand of football.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: For sure, speed and physicality. Physicality, that's a given with them. Think of a team like Georgia, that's the first thing you think of. Especially in their secondary, those guys can really run. So sure.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. But honestly, you know, as far as transferring and stuff, I wasn't -- I mean, I guess you could say the thought was in there, but it wasn't really nothing that just stuck in my mind. It was a thought that came and gone. It was like, no, I'm going to go ahead and trust Coach Dykes, though I haven't met him yet. This is before I met him. I was going back and looking his accolades and seeing everything he did. So ultimately decide to stay here, which is obviously something that turned out good for us right now.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. My dad's played a big part in that for sure. He's been my coach from peewee up until he couldn't no more. Eighth grade, going into high school, he's somebody that's always going to be there for me, ups and downs, so I give him a lot of credit.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Oh, yeah. Obviously, that was a freak injury. Prayers are still going out to him and his family. But, I mean, that was a football play. It was just very unfortunate for that to happen to him. I mean, not only him, but just anybody. Very unfortunate to happen. But I feel like that's not something that's going to affect the way we play, like we're not going to slow down. We're still going to, as far as defense, hit people full speed and offense going to play full speed and play our game. Obviously, that's something that's very unfortunate, but I don't think that's going to slow us down.

Q. When you finally get to, his first words were, did we win?

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Did we win, for sure.

Q. And that's -- you guys can use that for motivating the team. What he's been through.

QUENTIN JOHNSON: For sure. That goes to show how much, you know, time and effort people put into the game of football, how much love is instilled into football. So, you know, like obviously, that's big, you know, obviously, thankful he came to. To hear his first words, did we win, that tells a lot about the time that, you know, love players have for the game.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, obviously, the first few games, I wasn't really sure what it was. Like what's going on? Didn't really bother to look at the screen. But honestly, I looked at the screen once, probably third, fourth game of the season, I started getting a little chance. You know, let me look away from this thing. But I mean, that's something this just gives a lot of hype and like a lot of liveliness to the team in the community.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Bad game day. If you have a bad haircut, you can throw a hat on it.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Game day play list? It will be a mix of -- no songs in specific. Morgan Wallen, Lil Baby, Luke Holmes, Lil Wayne, and Drake.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Who's the last person to get on the bus? Let me see. Gotta go with, like, if it's not one of the coaches, my boy Jordan Hudson.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Oh, let me not get nobody in trouble. Let me see. Who would I not let date my sister. Probably Tre'Vius.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Depends on what is going on for sure.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Honestly, I'm still not fully, you know, I still don't know what it is fully, but I feel like it's, like, a distraction, you know. It's something that they just use as a distraction tactic to the opposing team and, you know, something that's obviously caught on with our fans. It's something that brings a lot of hype to the team.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Nothing crazy, but I feel like I always got to eat the same thing I ate the previous week at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. Obviously, they gave up a lot of passing yards. There was a lot of holes in their defense. Like I said before, I can't go into this game expecting them to play that same way, and, you know, I would kind of be naive to think that they haven't fixed what was, you know, going on for them the past few weeks. So I know right now, where I am, I've kind of expecting them to have all that fixed and for them to play the best brand of football.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: For sure, this is obviously the type of game you play for. Why not show up and play your best football.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. Because obviously, this is by far the biggest game that I've been a part of. But there's been other games that's been big too leading up to this moment. I feel like I came up short and was nervous how big it was and how many people were watching. So I kind of just tell myself like at the end of the day, despite all the hype and stuff around it, it's still a football game. So, you know, you just gotta come out and, you know, make your parents proud.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. Obviously, I would say, you know, I would be a very good pick for whoever team chooses to pick me. I will for sure bring my all, day in and day out.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure. Obviously, with myself and the team, it just shows how we're able to overcome -- I don't want to say adversity, but just overcoming the doubt, you know. Like obviously, we were counted out anyway so we went into every game with the mindset, we have the moves. Like people is already expecting the best so why not exceed that expectation. That taught me a lot about myself as a person which something like that can translate off the field too. It's been big for me.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, just overall mentality. I feel like they were both the same, obviously, with the National Championship, you know, still in mind, just their dedication the countless hours they spend up here pouring into our team.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, yeah, Coach Kaz, that's an amazing contribution to our team. He's done a lot for us, you know, physically as far as weight room and nutrition and stuff. At the same time, mentally, he really takes the time out to get to know each person, which is crazy.

Crazy story about him, Coach Kaz, you know, very smart guy, stuff like that. So I think after the second or third month, he had this big talk with us just about, you know, mental health and staying the course like that. And usually, we get a team break and family on three, and we'll break out. He broke everybody out by calling each person's last name. He didn't have a sheet or nothing. Like 210, you can go. Like to the point he called every person's weight out. Shows how much time he spends. Each person has a personal relationship with him. I feel like that's huge for a team like us obviously, coming off the season like we did the previous two years. We needed somebody like him to help turn the program around.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: For sure. Not necessarily them trying to win that back to back, which is obviously something that if you come back, you supposed to have that mindset, but I feel like our motivation comes from people always counting us out from the start of the season. And then at the same time, being the first Texas team to come, obviously helping the Big 12. I feel like that's where the majority of our motivation comes.

Q. (No microphone). Coaching staff, big deal. What makes you want to stay to be part of this season?

QUENTIN JOHNSON: Yeah. First of all, you know, leaving was never my mindset. You know, even with being as close to believing -- I say it time and time again. I not only fell in love with the football program, but with the TCU community as a whole. So I feel like there's something that really kept me grounded, you know, staying in this program.

Q. What did you think about Coach Dykes when you first met him? First impression?

QUENTIN JOHNSON: So cool story again. I went to his first press conference. Like I said, I didn't know him, obviously probably knew me. Just wanted to come and feel him out as a person, see how he was, see how he carried himself like that. So I was very impressed in that too. I think we had like a little break the following few weeks. He texted me, like Hey, what are you doing this weekend? I'm thinking he's going to make me come into the facility or something. Just chilling at home.

He said, you going to be home? He said, I'm going to drive down, talk to your parents, lay out a plan. I'm like, okay. That's something that stood out to me, like he took time out to talk to me and my parents personally. That was big for us.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: For sure. That was, I mean, very similar to Coach Dykes. Him and his family was very welcoming to us, you know, good experience. And then kind of looking at his background, I was very confident that, you know, like he'll have our best interest when it comes to football, receiver style, you know, playing of football. You know, they came to incorporate their style offense, which is amazing for us.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: For sure, our game plan has been more efficient and more effective overall. Personally, obviously, I was Z last year. I moved to X, which is X is, you know, traditionally, you know, home run hitter. Big post guy, big curl, big, you know, vertical guy, which, you know. Like I feel like that's something that, you know, I was okay at in the past, but it's something that I just need to add the finishing touches to, which I feel like coach Riley and his staff helped me do that.

Q. (No microphone).

QUENTIN JOHNSON: At the time, no. Looking back now, I suppose so, yeah. But leaving was never in my train of thought. I had brothers that I came in with. I mean, it was kind of like a decision, like yeah, we're staying here. We're going to fight for, you know, the greater good of this football team. Whoever they bring in, we're going to outwork everybody on the team and continue to go up.