With a little more than a week until the season opener, UCF linebacker and team captain Jason Johnson met with the media.
Notes from the interview:
Jonhnson said they shifted focus from preseason camp to game prep for Kent State. They have started working with the scout team (though in our 10 minutes of access we didn't see any scout team jerseys).
As for camp, he liked the "effort and executing assignments." Then added, "We've been playing great."
How did last Saturday's scrimmage go?
"I feel like we did a pretty good job. We didn't really have any busted coverages."
Offense scored once on them.
We tried to get a little more info about the scrimmage format. He said they started with situational football and overtime scenarios, then young guys took over.
Asked about younger players standing out, Johnson mentioned TJ Bullard and Andrew Harris. Harris made a good play in the scrimmage.
"Andrew, he's really strong. He grabbed the quarterback and slung him. That was a good play."
Asked who has had a good camp, Johnson name-dropped RB Johnny Richardson.
"He makes plays out of nothing," Johnson said. "He's really exciting."
Is he becoming more of a vocal leader?
"I feel like I've been doing a good job. I've been getting the defense started. If it's sluggish, I'll try to say something to get us going."
Asked who's playing well at linebacker, Johnson basically named the whole group.
"Everybody's playing well. Me, Walt, Rian, IP, Andrew, TJ. Everybody is playing well, flying to the ball. Kam Moore too. He's really smart."
They've worked on bonding during camp.
What does he still need to work on?
"Still need to clean up some stuff in pass coverage. Urgency in my drops and stuff like that. Breaking on the ball."
The linebacker is mostly veteran between Johnson and Yates and a couple older transfers.
"It's really good for the younger guys because we know football and know how everything goes. If they do something wrong, we'll coach them up and just help them get better."
How will the defense improve this year?
"Really our communication. We just talk all the time. We've know what we're doing and we're just going to fly to the ball and hit people and get the ball out."
Is the team forcing more interceptions? Johnson got an INT during Tuesday's practice. He said there will be a lot of interceptions this year.
In regards to Kent State, they have a new coaching staff and all new offensive starters after a rash of offseason transfers. Johnson knows their special teams coordinator (Kody Morgan) came from North Dakota State. They've been watching film of where these coaches have been previously.
"We're gonna shut them down."
