12/4/2002 - Football
Paul Johnson Press Conference For Wednesday, Dec. 4
Q. Are you guys ready?
A. I don?t know, we?ll find out on Saturday. I think we?ve had some good preparation. Morale seems to be good. We?ll see. If you aren?t ready to play in this one you probably don?t have a heartbeat.
Q. In terms of Army, what would you call their offense? Does he have a name for what they do?
A. I don?t know. They probably call it a spread offense.
Q. Are they faster than you guys are? Do they have better athletes? What is your impression of watching them on film?
A. I don?t know. They have some good athletes. I don?t know. That?s why you play the game. Everybody told me when I came here that they had better athletes. I don?t know.
Q. Defensively they held Tulane to 10 points. I am sure you watched tape of that game, does their defense look like they can be good at times?
A. Yeah. They got great pressure on the quarterback in that game with three and four rushers and they had good corner coverage. Not only did they hold Tulane to 10 points, but Army turned the ball over five times in that game and still held them to 10.
Q. Moody. He?s been out for two days because of his Rhodes Scholarship interview. What do you think of that? It?s an interesting thing. Isn?t it weird not having a starter not practicing during Army-Navy week?
A. Yeah it is. It?s a little different.
Q. Is it your take that that stuff is more important or how do you look at it?
A. Well, I think it?s important. Certainly it?s important to Grant. I wasn?t going to stand in the way of somebody having a chance to interview for a Rhodes Scholarship. It?s just unfortunate the timing.
Q. Will he still start?
A. Yeah, I think he?s going to play, we?ll see. I don?t want to punish him for going. He?s played a lot, he?s a senior, and he?s a smart kid. We got a jump on it last week by practicing so hopefully he will be back for practice tomorrow. Now if he misses tomorrow, it starts to get dicey. He should be back tomorrow.
Q. Do you have any feeling about which quarterback they will play?
A. I think it will be Nevels.
Q. Berry told me today it would be Nevels, but he also said they could play three by the end of the day.
A. That would mean that it?s probably good for us if they?re playing them all.
Q. Did you prepare for all three quarterbacks?
A. We prepared for the offense, you don?t prepare for the quarterback. If I had to guess I would have guessed Nevels because he?s their most experienced guy.
Q. Are you going to punt to the Comeaux kid? He?s returned two for touchdowns?
A. I hope we don?t have to punt much.
Q. Berry said he?s injured.
A. He?ll play. I haven?t thought that much about it. I imagine we will.
Q. Do you feel like you are as healthy as you can be?
A. Yeah, with the exception of a couple of guys. We have a couple of guys that are questionable. We will know at the end of the week.
Q. Lenter is a definite go?
A. Yes
Q. Eckel?
A. Yep
Q. One other topic, you are taking the team to Ground Zero on Friday, what do you think of that?
A. It?s just something that I want to do to take the team. I wanted to do it and I think it?s appropriate for these guys to go and I think it will mean something to them to go. I just thought it would be a good trip for us.
Q. Gladchuk said last night that he got word the President it coming to this game. Do you know that to be true and have you ever met a President?
A. I don?t know if he?s coming and yeah I met a President before.
Q. When?
A. I met the President at Army-Navy when I was here in ?96 and if I?m not mistaken I think I met the former President Bush one time at a campaign deal. Wen you say meet them I?ve shook their hand, I?ve never had a chance to sit down and talk. If he does come that will be exciting.
Q. A lot of people have said that Army really doesn?t fit in with the other schools in Conference USA, but they made that decision to join. Do you think it?s in Navy?s best interest to remain Independent?
A. Unless you find a viable league you can fit in, I don?t think being an Independent is a problem right now. We have to build our program up. Right now everybody wants to play us, we don?t have a problem getting a game. Being an Independent probably helps you because you control your schedule and quite honestly you probably make more money because you don?t split it with anybody.
Q. Army does get some money from the BCS that you don?t get.
A. Conference USA isn?t part of that
Q. I saw something where their AD said that if the Ivy?s ever wanted to consider doing something with the two service academies he would be interested. Is that something that is feasible?
A. I wouldn?t think so. It wouldn?t be my decision, but I don?t think that would make any sense unless they wanted to play IA.
Q. It seems like you get a lot of kids here because they want to play teams like Notre Dame and Boston College.
A. Yeah. You get kids here because they want to play Division I football. Certainly the Notre Dame rivalry is a good one, but I think you get kids here no matter who you play as long as you are Division I
Q. Some people say that a part of Air Force?s success is a result of them being in a conference.
A. Who knows. I?ve answered so many questions about that. There are a lot of reasons why Air Force is successful. We?ve beaten that thing to death.
