8/13/2003 - Football
Transcript Of Paul Johnson's Press Conference

Q. I happened to hear you say that you thought this was the best practice (last night) to date. Why did you say that?

A. I just thought we had a little intensity, guys were flying around and we competed. Both sides made some plays. When you practice against each other it?s hard to be happy, but today I thought both sides of the ball made progress.

Q. Do you see the team getting sharper?

A. We got better today. We have to take a good practice and build on it, that?s the way you do things.

Q. I know it?s hard to remember back to a year ago, but can you gauge where this team is at this point in the practice sessions compared to last year?

A. Gosh, I don?t have any idea. I don?t know how you measure that from one year to the next. Certainly we are ahead of where we were last year as far as knowing where to go and what to do, because we?ve had more time, guys have played. It?s hard to say where the team is. It will be hard to say until we?ve played a game or two.

Q. You have talked in the past how difficult it is for freshmen to play here, can you expound on that?

A. Yeah, they come in and have a very difficult summer. It?s not boot camp, but it?s pretty similar in a lot of ways. It takes a toll on them physically. They lose weight and they go through a lot of things. Even the guys that don?t lose weight have gone through so much physical activity that they don?t have any legs. It?s just awfully hard for them to play early. I think they have a chance to play as the year goes along, but it?s hard for them to play early.

Q. A lot of schools are now having high school seniors graduate early and having their players enroll in college a semester early to lift weights and participate in spring ball. Meanwhile the freshmen here are put at a disadvantage because of plebe summer. Is that just another thing that makes it difficult to win at a Service Academy?

A. A lot of schools are bringing guys in early so they can go through spring practice and get a jump on school and then they stay there over the summer to get stronger, but that?s part of the deal here. We don?t have that luxury, but we understand that and we just deal with it. This year we were fortunate that at least we were able to have all of our freshmen at practice. We worked together with our administration and we got them all for practice so that was a positive.

Q. I know you don?t like to talk about individual guys, but there have been a couple of plebes on offense that have stood out. Can you talk about the wide receiver, Jason Tomlinson? He?s looked really good.

A. I think he?s got some ability. He?s smooth. He?s had a good camp and he?s caught the ball well. We?ll just have to see, he hasn?t done anything in a game. We?re excited about him. We?ll just have to see how much he plays this year. It?s kind of up in the air.

Q. Is he one of the faster guys? Is there anything he?s doing that has enabled him to make plays, like today when he took that short pass and out ran everybody for a touchdown?

A. He?s a good football player. We haven?t had a chance to really test the plebes, because coming out of plebe summer you aren?t going to get a fair reading, but what I go on is football speed and he makes guys miss out here. He?s one of our more elusive guys.

Q. Trey Hines has been getting some good work at slot back. What have you seen out of him?

A. Trey?s trying to learn the offense. He?s a kid that weighs about 215 pounds and was the 200-meter champ in the state of Georgia. I think he ran 22.3; he has real good speed and size. He?s a tough kid. When he learns where he?s supposed to be all the time he has a chance to help us.