Paul Johnson observations from someone who watched him coach

[Eagle01]

Hello everyone.

I hope you don't mind me posting on your board, but I was in school at Georgia Southern during the five years Paul Johnson coached there (his first year was my freshman year and he left the semester I graduated.) If you guys are lucky enough to hire him, I'll become an SMU fan.

As I'm sure you all know, he won two national championships while at GSU running essentially the same offense that he runs at Navy. He lost in the national championship game one year and was among the final eight teams in the country (1-AA) every year he was there. He ended up with a 62-10 record while at GSU.

He set all kinds of records while there, including averaging 50 points a game during one season (1998, when we lost in the finals). The man knows his system inside and out and can make adjustments better than almost any other coach out there.

And while his teams typically lead the nation in rushing, there is a fair amount of passing from his offense and when he does, they generally go for big plays as teh safeties have crept up to stop the run.

I'll try to be around and answer any questions I can, if you'd like. Good luck and I hope, for your sake, he ends up at SMU.

[OR-See-Nee]

Thanks for the kind thoughts. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Well, some of us are.

[ThadFilms]

So was winning back to back national championships "boring"? Can't believe that a boring offense that wins is the main (only?) knock on this guy.


I am really hoping he struts out at half time of the basketball game tonight.


And thanks, assuming this deal goes through, I'll have about 20 questions for you already gathered. Welcome to the board.... I hope for our sake that you do become an instant fan.... as in, well you know... SMU hiring PJ.

[diamond_tom]

So was winning back to back national championships "boring"? Can't believe that a boring offense that wins is the main (only?) knock on this guy.


I am really hoping he struts out at half time of the basketball game tonight.


And thanks, assuming this deal goes through, I'll have about 20 questions for you already gathered. Welcome to the board.... I hope for our sake that you do become an instant fan.... as in, well you know... SMU hiring PJ.

I can't imagine it's too boring averaging 50 points per game either!

[ThadFilms]

So was winning back to back national championships "boring"? Can't believe that a boring offense that wins is the main (only?) knock on this guy.


I am really hoping he struts out at half time of the basketball game tonight.


And thanks, assuming this deal goes through, I'll have about 20 questions for you already gathered. Welcome to the board.... I hope for our sake that you do become an instant fan.... as in, well you know... SMU hiring PJ.

I can't imagine it's too boring averaging 50 points per game either!

Oh, I whole heartedly disagree.... 50 points a game? Yawn.

[Eagle01]

The "boring" knock on the offense is something we Georgia Southern fans laugh about. It's exciting and, when run properly, has plenty of big plays. They're just usually on the ground and not through the air, so it's not "fancy."

The basics of the offense are a qb under center, a fullback about 3 yards behind him, two slot backs (called A-Backs) who line up just outside the tackles about a yard behind the line of scrimmage. Typically, there are two wide receivers lined up where most teams line up their wideouts.

The triple option begins with the QB and fullback. At the snap, the fullback starts running toward the assigned hole (either to the right or left between the center and guard), the qb reads the defensive end and depending on what he does, the qb reacts accordingly. If the de crashes down the line, the qb keeps the ball, but if the de stays outside, the qb gives the ball to the fb for a dive.

If the de crashes down, the qb pulls the ball from the belly of the fb and then starts to run down the line of scrimmage. The a-back on the side he's running to blocks a linebacker and the other a-back runs behind the qb. The qb then reads the safety (I believe) and either cuts up field or pitches to the a-back.

The key to the offense is speed. The qb has to make quick reads.

I hope that makes sense.

[diamond_tom]

If the de crashes down, the qb pulls the ball from the belly of the fb and then starts to run down the line of scrimmage. The a-back on the side he's running to blocks a linebacker and the other a-back runs behind the qb. The qb then reads the safety (I believe) and either cuts up field or pitches to the a-back.

The key to the offense is speed. The qb has to make quick reads.

I hope that makes sense.

We just thought Willis had fumble problems in the past. He's got some work to do!

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

Eagle01 thanks for the info and welcome aboard

as long as we're winning it would take me a long time to say I was bored

don't get me wrong, I like and respect Tom Rossley, but we had the run and shoot with Rossley...lots of passing....maybe the opposite of PJ?.....and look where that got us

if PJ wins and we are going to bowls nobody will be bored

[Eagle01]

I'll be honest, I got bored a few times at Georgia Southern games with PJ coaching, mostly because we were up by 40-50 points against a Division II school (and please, for my sake, please don't refer to Georgia Southern as DII, we're 1-AA, thanks ) ) My brother was in high school when PJ was at GSU and he wasn't a huge fan, but I brought him to a playoff game against Northern Arizona and after seeing us win 72-29, he became a fan (yes, we won a game against what was supposedly a top-16 team by that score.)

I'll try to find some clips of our teams from 1998 to 2000 (our best teams) to give you an idea of how fast the offense is.

[Charleston Pony]

I'll be honest, I got bored a few times at Georgia Southern games with PJ coaching, mostly because we were up by 40-50 points against a Division II school (and please, for my sake, please don't refer to Georgia Southern as DII, we're 1-AA, thanks ) ) My brother was in high school when PJ was at GSU and he wasn't a huge fan, but I brought him to a playoff game against Northern Arizona and after seeing us win 72-29, he became a fan (yes, we won a game against what was supposedly a top-16 team by that score.)

I'll try to find some clips of our teams from 1998 to 2000 (our best teams) to give you an idea of how fast the offense is.

No...you are FCS

[Eagle01]

I'll be honest, I got bored a few times at Georgia Southern games with PJ coaching, mostly because we were up by 40-50 points against a Division II school (and please, for my sake, please don't refer to Georgia Southern as DII, we're 1-AA, thanks ) ) My brother was in high school when PJ was at GSU and he wasn't a huge fan, but I brought him to a playoff game against Northern Arizona and after seeing us win 72-29, he became a fan (yes, we won a game against what was supposedly a top-16 team by that score.)

I'll try to find some clips of our teams from 1998 to 2000 (our best teams) to give you an idea of how fast the offense is.

No...you are FCS

No one I know uses that term. All the 1-AA fans still call us that. But thanks for caring

[Charleston Pony]

I'll be honest, I got bored a few times at Georgia Southern games with PJ coaching, mostly because we were up by 40-50 points against a Division II school (and please, for my sake, please don't refer to Georgia Southern as DII, we're 1-AA, thanks ) ) My brother was in high school when PJ was at GSU and he wasn't a huge fan, but I brought him to a playoff game against Northern Arizona and after seeing us win 72-29, he became a fan (yes, we won a game against what was supposedly a top-16 team by that score.)

I'll try to find some clips of our teams from 1998 to 2000 (our best teams) to give you an idea of how fast the offense is.

No...you are FCS

No one I know uses that term. All the 1-AA fans still call us that. But thanks for caring

I still call it I-AA (living here in SoCon country). Just trying to be politically correct

[bigdaddy08091]

The "boring" knock on the offense is something we Georgia Southern fans laugh about. It's exciting and, when run properly, has plenty of big plays. They're just usually on the ground and not through the air, so it's not "fancy."

The basics of the offense are a qb under center, a fullback about 3 yards behind him, two slot backs (called A-Backs) who line up just outside the tackles about a yard behind the line of scrimmage. Typically, there are two wide receivers lined up where most teams line up their wideouts.

The triple option begins with the QB and fullback. At the snap, the fullback starts running toward the assigned hole (either to the right or left between the center and guard), the qb reads the defensive end and depending on what he does, the qb reacts accordingly. If the de crashes down the line, the qb keeps the ball, but if the de stays outside, the qb gives the ball to the fb for a dive.

If the de crashes down, the qb pulls the ball from the belly of the fb and then starts to run down the line of scrimmage. The a-back on the side he's running to blocks a linebacker and the other a-back runs behind the qb. The qb then reads the safety (I believe) and either cuts up field or pitches to the a-back.

The key to the offense is speed. The qb has to make quick reads.

I hope that makes sense.

Makes good sense eagle. JWill can operater under any offense. Never mind what the skeptics say. Our fumbling problems occurred while trying to improvise. PJ's offense will take care of that. JWill will have set reads on every play. Rusty's offense changed every week! Even Rusty did not know what he was doing.

[bigdaddy08091]

If the de crashes down, the qb pulls the ball from the belly of the fb and then starts to run down the line of scrimmage. The a-back on the side he's running to blocks a linebacker and the other a-back runs behind the qb. The qb then reads the safety (I believe) and either cuts up field or pitches to the a-back.

The key to the offense is speed. The qb has to make quick reads.

I hope that makes sense.

We just thought Willis had fumble problems in the past. He's got some work to do!

You are missing the point tom.

[Eagle01]

So was winning back to back national championships "boring"? Can't believe that a boring offense that wins is the main (only?) knock on this guy.


I am really hoping he struts out at half time of the basketball game tonight.


And thanks, assuming this deal goes through, I'll have about 20 questions for you already gathered. Welcome to the board.... I hope for our sake that you do become an instant fan.... as in, well you know... SMU hiring PJ.

Go ahead and ask, I can't promise to know everything, but I'll certainly give it a shot (or go back through my old media guides to try to find out.)