<p>Transcript of Navy Head Football Coach Paul Johnson's Press Briefing Following Practice On Tuesday, September 4</p>
<p>In Attendance: Bill Wagner (Annapolis Capital), Ron Snyder (Baltimore Examiner), Bob Socci (Navy Radio) </p>
<p>Johnson: Damn Wagner, you're dressed like you just got back from having a beer with Jimmy Buffett. </p>
<p>Wagner: Why is Coach Niumatalolo carrying around a measuring stick? </p>
<p>Johnson: I don't know, why don't you ask him? </p>
<p>Snyder: After having watched the tape what kind of adjustments do you have to make for Rutgers? </p>
<p>Johnson: Well let's see, we have to block better, take care of the ball better, tackle better, know our responsibilities better and play with better effort. Other than that we should be in good shape. </p>
<p>Snyder: As far as the missed tackles was it technique or effort? </p>
<p>Johnson: Some of it was fundamentals and some of it is that historically we aren't very good in the open field and if we don't do everything right, bend our knees and move our feet, we are going to miss tackles. It was a little of everything. </p>
<p>Snyder: Rutgers proved last week that they could beat you with more than Ray Rice as Mike Teel had a pretty good game throwing the ball. </p>
<p>Johnson: They could have done pretty much whatever they wanted to do. </p>
<p>Wagner: What do you about Schiano's commentary about Kaipo being the best quarterback you've had since he's played against you? That's alot of quarterbacks. </p>
<p>Johnson: I don't know. He's a good coach. I'm sure he's a good evaluator of talent. He's got his program in pretty good shape. I think Kaipo's a good player too. </p>
<p>Wagner: Is it weird to hear somebody talking about a Navy quarterback throwing the ball on a dime and on a rope? </p>
<p>Johnson: I think you can take that for what it's worth. </p>
<p>Wagner: The pro scouts are going to be here looking at him after reading Schiano's comments about him. </p>
<p>Johnson: That would be good. Kaipo has worked hard on his passing. </p>
<p>Snyder: What are your thoughts on Shun White's performance last week? </p>
<p>Johnson: He played OK. He needs to learn to play better without the ball in his hands. He does OK when he has the ball in his hands; we need to get him to play better without the ball. </p>
<p>Wagner: You had said going into the Temple game that you thought your defense was more athletic. After the first game do you still have that opinion? </p>
<p>Johnson: Sure. Why wouldn't I? When I say athletic I mean they are faster, they jump higher and all that. I think I qualified that all along by saying I wasn't sure they were going to be better football players. That still remains to be seen. This year's guys would beat last year's guys in a foot race. </p>
<p>Wagner: Shouldn't that be seen on the field by making tackles? </p>
<p>Johnson: It might be, but I don't know that it's fair to compare a guy that has never played much football to a four-year starter at outside linebacker who was one of the best players to ever play here at Navy (David Mahoney). </p>
<p>Wagner: A lot of it is about instincts. </p>
<p>Johnson: Well, they are going to get better I hope. If they don't it's going to be a long year just like at every other position. You would hope that the more snaps they take the better they are going to get. You would hope that in this game Nechak doesn't line up three yards off the ball to rush the passer. You would hope. I don't think he will. Just little things like that which you pick up by playing. </p>
<p>Wagner: And that's why they were saying they learned a lot off the film because you could show them that kind of stuff. </p>
<p>Johnson: I would imagine that we would play better on Friday night. It might not show it on the scoreboard, but I think we will play better. We have had a couple of pretty good days of practice. </p>
<p>Snyder: Was the Temple game a wake-up call for some of the guys? You may have ability but you still have to show it on the field. </p>
<p>Johnson: There's no question that we have some players that have a very lofty opinion of themselves, but I've never been on or coached a team that wasn't that way. You are what you are. The big eye in the sky doesn't lie. </p>
<p>Socci: Opponents often say it's difficult to simulate what you do, the speed of the game, when they prepare for the option, but how difficult is it for you to simulate what the opposing teams do, especially their athleticism? </p>
<p>Johnson: It's hard. Once we get in the mode of things the scout team does a really good job and that's the type of offense they run all year. They get more accustomed to it. Certainly nobody is going to have the speed that you see in the game. You don't get it on either side of the ball. We can't simulate the speed of their defense either. It's hard for everybody. I think the key this year is that almost everybody we play this year has more than one week to get ready for us (Temple, Pitt, Wake Forest, Delaware, Notre Dame, North Texas and Army) and if you read reports out of Rutgers they were practicing against our stuff all of camp and we didn't have that luxury. I was scared to death that Temple was going to beat us. The extra time is going to help those other teams. </p>
<p>Wagner: So who on the scout team simulates Ray Rice? </p>
<p>Johnson: It's by committee. Greg Jones was doing it some today, but we don't have one guy that can do that. How about Mike Teel? Which 6-5 quarterback do we have that is going to simulate him? Or who is going to simulate their 6-4 receivers, who on the scout team defense is going to simulate those two safeties? If we had anybody they would be playing with our first team defense. </p>
<p>Socci: How did Antron grade out in his first game at center? </p>
<p>Johnson: Not the best in the world. I think he's played better. </p>
<p>Socci: Do you practice getting to the line and snapping the ball before the replay official can take a look? </p>
<p>Johnson: We talk about it. It's hard to practice, but my experience with replay is that you can't quick snap them. They are already looking at it. They look at every play. Sometimes you might think that you got away with it and they didn't have a chance to review it, but they replay every play and if there's something there they will stop it. That's why it's futile to challenge. It really is futile to challenge. I don't know if I've ever seen a coach challenge it and win, because if it were wrong in the first place they would buzz down. My one problem with replay is that you have the replay official from one conference and the game officials from another conference. The Rutgers game two years ago comes to mind. That's a terrible way to do it. Not a good way to do it.</p>