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ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO: STANFORD v WISCONSINDecember 28, 2012Shelton JohnsonPASADENA, CALIFORNIAS Q. What's it been like knowing that (Indiscernible) and everybody knows that? Is that difficult to deal with in this game? SHELTON JOHNSON: I don't think so. That's part of the reason why Barry gave us these "I'm in/I'm on" wrist bands. We're all in this together. Honestly, I think coming from my side of the table is a little different seeing as how I'm not going to be back next year. But I think it puts a lot more emphasis on this game. We love all our coaches, from Coach Bloom who has only been here for four years, to Coach Ash who has been here for three years. So just being our last opportunity to play for them and work together to win a game, I think it puts that much more emphasis on actually going out there and, you know, sending them out in a great way. Q. When did Coach Alvarez give you those? SHELTON JOHNSON: He gave us these. It's a little faded by now, but originally it said "I'm in, I'm on." And it's just something that after Coach B. left, and after Coach Alvarez stepped in, there was a lot of I guess unknowns and uncertainty around whether the coaches are going to coach with us or stay or what's going on happen. I guess he just gave us all these wrist bands to symbolize that we're all in this together type of thing. Q. Just to make it to the Rose Bowl? SHELTON JOHNSON: Exactly. Q. Coach Partridge and Coach Ash were talking about the players and (Indiscernible)? SHELTON JOHNSON: Obviously, like I've said, we've all built a strong relationship together. We love working with each other we know the coaches wanted to stay. That's not even a question. We know they wanted to stay, and it's something that had to be done. At the end of the day, they have families and kids and stuff to feed, so they have to have a job. They can't sit around and wait for the unknown to happen whether they have a job or not. Like I said, it's all up in that locker room. We all love working with each other, and they love coaching us. So nothing has changed since they've accepted new jobs. Obviously, they're not going to be here in a few months, so like I said, it just puts that much more emphasis on actually finishing this relationship out in a great way. Q. (Indiscernible)? SHELTON JOHNSON: Definitely. I don't want to say it's gotten monotonous coming here, because it's the Rose Bowl. It's the granddaddy of them all, like they say. But once you start realizing, I've seen this, I've done this, you start directing the shuttle drivers where you want to go because you know where the good spots are. It's almost like home to us. It's like all the majesty and all the events are wonderful, but we're here to win a game. Q. (Indiscernible)? SHELTON JOHNSON: I want to say it was the first week after Coach Alvarez decided he was going to come back. Q. Do you guys look at the bracelets as a symbol? SHELTON JOHNSON: I don't think it's corny. It's symbolic. As long as everybody buys into it, I think it's a great motivator. Q. (Indiscernible) are there similarities between Montee Ball and Stepfan Taylor? SHELTON JOHNSON: I mean, they're both backs that run really hard. I wouldn't say Stepfan Taylor is a guy that's going to make a ton of people miss in open field. But they're strong backs, they both run hard, and they both don't make mistakes. So there are similarities, but they're two different guys at the same time. Q. I don't know if you've had time to reflect on it or not or maybe get a negative view, but what you guys have accomplished right now, your senior class is tied for the most wins in school history (Indiscernible)? SHELTON JOHNSON: Honestly, I haven't even thought about that. Losing hasn't even crept into my mind yet. So I really can't even answer that question. Q. (Indiscernible)? SHELTON JOHNSON: Definitely. That's what we're here for. You don't focus on the negatives, especially when you're in a situation like we are. We're here to win, and that's our plan. We expect our plan to go as a success. Q. What's it been like working with Coach Ash and Coach Partridge? They're two of the longest tenured guys. Partridge has been here as long as any of the players. What's it been like to work with them? Is it any different the past few weeks? SHELTON JOHNSON: I think they're great coaches. They're here to make us better and they all love us, like I said earlier. So I mean, they're going to coach us no matter what. Their best interests are in our‑‑ they have our best interests in mind. They've been coaching us hard and wanting us to get better. But at the same time, they realize I guess you start to enjoy them more. You start to enjoy the nagging and the coaching and the yelling and the cursing a lot more because you know you're not going to see that again that few weeks. Honestly, I think this is almost the way it should be the whole time. We all love those guys. I mean, it's kind of a sad situation to see them leave, but at the same time, it's been nice these last few weeks. Q. Is this your last game of football, or do you plan to pursue a game in the NFL? SHELTON JOHNSON: Definitely. This is a game I love and a game I've been playing since I was eight years old, so I definitely plan on pursuing a career. Q. Do you feel you have an opportunity to showcase what you have on a big stage in a game against a very good opponent? So you can make the jump start? SHELTON JOHNSON: I mean, there have been a lot of those games this year. You just go out and you try to play your game. You don't really go out trying to impress anybody, because I felt like that's something that's going to set me back, an extra weight that's going to be on my shoulder. So I go in and try to execute the game plan as best I'm coached to, and try to make every single play I can. Q. (Indiscernible)? SHELTON JOHNSON: I don't know. I haven't thought about that. I don't have a strategy. Because I know with guys like Travis Frederick sitting around, I don't know. I don't know (laughing). Q. You've faced some real mobile quarterbacks like Kevin Hogan this year, Taylor Martinez, and the kid from Ohio State, and you've done well against them, haven't you? SHELTON JOHNSON: I think we've handled most of them pretty well. Except you take away a couple of Taylor Martinez' long runs, and I think we've pretty much handled those quarterbacks. In the first game, yeah. He had a couple of long runs in the second game too. Q. (Indiscernible)? SHELTON JOHNSON: It definitely is. It definitely was. I enjoyed every minute of it. Q. Facing these guys in practice, what's that like working around games in practice? SHELTON JOHNSON: Honestly, since I've stepped on the campus in 2008, we've been going against the crunch and ground game. So as similar as the two teams are, I feel like we've been preparing for Stanford for the last five years, honestly. I mean, all you have to do is watch the film, and you can tell there are a lot of similarities between the offenses. The philosophies, the shifts, the motions, I mean, there is a lot that's mirrored between the two teams. Q. Guys have talked about an increased focus in this trip. Have you seen that from the last two trips? SHELTON JOHNSON: I don't want to say it's gotten monotonous, but at the same time, once you start directing shuttle drivers which way to go and freshman start to ask you where to go in the hotel, and you point over there like you've been there a hundred times, you start to realize that the game is really what's important. All the majesty of the events and the Disneyland and the Beef Bowl, they're all nice. But at the end of the day, we're here to win a game. Q. Is that an actual shuttle trip where you guys did direct the driver? SHELTON JOHNSON: There was. We were going to I think some club or something earlier in the week. I guess he had never heard of it, and it was somewhere on Santa Monica Boulevard, and we're like you just take a left here and we should be there. Q. How is the balance? Are you interested in the off the field stuff this year? SHELTON JOHNSON: Definitely. You never know when you'll be able to do this stuff again. We went to Disneyland and we got to walk past the lines, that's never going to happen to me again in life. That's never going to happen again. So you've got to take advantage of most of the stuff while you've got it because you never know when you're going to get that opportunity again. Q. What's been the biggest change with Coach Alvarez and bowl prep? Are you seeing shorter practices or anything else that's coming to mind? SHELTON JOHNSON: We've never done that before. I mean, there's definitely been bigger motivation on finishing everything we do. But other than that, like the practice plans and the way that practice kind of works around us, it's all been kept the same. I think that's the best way to do it. We've all been used to that the last five years. So change isn't a bad thing, but at this time of the season, and this close to the game I don't think it would have been the best to completely change everything that we did. Q. Coach Alvarez has a pretty significant history here. SHELTON JOHNSON: We're definitely aware of that. We appreciate coach putting that on the line for us. So I think that's a huge motivation for the team to actually not let him down and not let the fans down and not let anybody go out there and get that for him. Q. Do you call it a swag that Coach Alvarez has? How do you describe his personality? SHELTON JOHNSON: He definitely walks around with a lot of confidence. And I think that rubs off on the players as well. You just see, he's the Don sometimes when he walks around, because you just know. He has a physical presence to him when he walks into a room. So I think that really rubs off on the players and gives a lot of people a lot of confidence. Q. How will you match up with Zach Ertz, the tight end in this? SHELTON JOHNSON: I think I will. It depends on the play call and the situation, but I'm probably going to be on him a few times in the game. Q. Do you like the challenge? Is he as good as you've seen? SHELTON JOHNSON: Definitely, he's a huge tight end. I don't think I've faced a tight end this big before. He goes up for the ball really well. He's a great tight end. So we'll see how it goes. Q. Who are some of the other top guys that are tight ends? SHELTON JOHNSON: Let me think of who else. Michigan State's tight end was pretty good. But Penn State I didn't see a lot of their tight ends. Just in comparison to his height and his and the to go up for the ball, I don't think I've seen anybody like him. Q. Is there any similarity to how they use their tight ends to how you guys use yours? SHELTON JOHNSON: I would say there are a lot of similarities, but I haven't even thought about that. Q. Do they use multiple guys? SHELTON JOHNSON: They do a lot of shifts and trades. There are a lot of similarities in our offense in general. They definitely use our tight ends. We definitely utilize our tight ends in similar ways. Taking them on crossing routes across the field and play‑action and stuff like that. So I'd say yes. Q. Is that the number one target in play action? SHELTON JOHNSON: That's what it seems like, yeah. Q. So is Devin enjoying this trip a little more now that he gets to play? SHELTON JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, obviously last year was pretty tough for him, just being able to‑‑ not being able to do anything, honestly, and not being able to contribute to the team like he wanted to. So it's definitely a higher sense of urgency, and it should be. He's playing this year. He's relied on. Q. You look at from Ohio State's receiver and the Penn State guy is one of the best and Nebraska. He had a pretty good close to the season? SHELTON JOHNSON: Yeah, he did. He finished really well. I think we all knew that he was capable of doing that. I mean, he's a great player. He's a smart player on top of everything. We all knew he had that ability, so I don't think it surprised anybody in the locker room. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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