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Josh Johnson


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As a college quarterback he was very good. I saw him play several times at USD, but the competition was not the greatest. He has the physical skills to play the position, but we all know it takes longer to develop the mental skills to be successful in the NFL. I can't imagine he'll be scary-good in his first start at this level.

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Nice article on Johnson in the UT....

 

JOHNSON CAN SEE NO NEED FOR SPEED

Ex-USD star content to rely on arm as Bucs' starting QB

 

By Tim Sullivan

Union-Tribune Columnist

 

The Buccaneers, who are 0-3, hope starting Josh Johnson at quarterback will help reverse their stumbling start. If Josh Johnson has something up his sleeve, it is his arm. The fastest quarterback of the class of 2008 regards running as an emergency exit from his primary responsibility of passing. He assumes a starting role with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the same set of assumptions he developed at the University of San Diego. “Just like at USD, my (main) job is to throw the football,” Johnson said. “If I have to use my legs to move the chains, I will.” Since the Bucs have lately been moving the chains like Jacob Marley, management is unlikely to quibble about methodology should Johnson produce results on the football field. His opportunity has arisen because the Bucs totaled just 86 yards of total offense in last Sunday's 24-0 loss to the New York Giants, most of them on Johnson's debut drive late in the fourth quarter.

 

The promotion is intended to be temporary. Rookie Josh Freeman, the first-round draft choice from Kansas State, is considered the Bucs' quarterback of tomorrow. Less than three weeks ago, Bucs coach Raheem Morris referred to Johnson as his “career backup.” Yet an 0-3 start and the desire to spare Freeman the trial-and-error trauma of learning his job on an overmatched team have afforded Johnson the chance to turn heads in competition and, perhaps, to strut the stuff that produced 43 touchdown passes and only one interception in his triumphant 2007 season with the Toreros.

 

Now as then, Johnson plans to cling to the protective pocket of his offensive linemen and to ration his running. Then as now, says USD coach Ron Caragher, Josh Johnson was a quarterback with athletic ability as opposed to an athlete playing quarterback. “I was just amazed by his understanding of the game of football,” Caragher said. “We could have put in some option (plays) when Josh was a senior because he would be so hard to defend. But we felt he was such a pure quarterback that we didn't want to risk (injury).” Johnson arrived at USD at 5-feet-11 and perhaps 150 pounds, and matured so late that he had yet to shave late in his senior year. Yet Johnson sprouted to 6-feet-3 on campus, passed for 9,699 yards and 113 touchdowns over four years, and forced scouts to ponder the possibilities of a non-scholarship player from the low-profile Pioneer Football League. “You can't be looking where he comes from,” said Doug Williams, the former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player who became Johnson's advocate within the Bucs' organization. “Everybody (talks about) level of competition, and that might be true to a certain point. But at some point, you've got to grade the kid.”

 

Williams, the Bucs' coordinator of pro scouting, spent two days with Johnson in 2007, and emerged enthralled. He saw Johnson's talent on video, and he sensed his passion through their personal interaction. Johnson bolstered his case by earning MVP honors at the East-West Shrine Game, but subsequently slipped during a dismal performance at the NFL's 2008 Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Watching Johnson at work that day, one NFL coach told the Union-Tribune's Kevin Acee that only four of his 18 passes rated a “plus.” Observing from opposite ends of the field, then-Bucs coach Jon Gruden chided Williams via text message: “When is he going to throw a spiral?” “He stunk,” Williams said yesterday during a telephone interview. “Ain't no ifs or buts, he was terrible. “He was pressing. Johnson is a hyper kid. When it comes time for competition, he's got a gunslinger mentality. But I think he worked out the day before he was supposed to throw and got too hyped.”

 

Looking back, Williams sees Johnson's combine showing as a disguised blessing, in that it enabled the Bucs to get him with a later (fifth-round) selection. Looking back, Johnson invokes a mantra he has employed at least since USD. “You have to take advantage of the opportunities that are given to you,” he said. “I just didn't perform that day. I didn't step up. It happened. I put that behind me.”

 

Before long, he was again throwing spirals, and performed with enough promise that the Bucs were moved to carry four quarterbacks last season. Gruden came to call Johnson, “one of the best young guys I've been around.” As a rookie, Johnson was inactive for all 16 games, but impressed his bosses through his study habits and in running the scout team during practice. This year, he has climbed the depth chart by taking advantage of the opportunities they have given to him. During the Bucs' preseason opener, Johnson snared a premature snap out of the shotgun formation and turned an ostensibly broken play into a 43-yard touchdown run. Last Sunday, Johnson completed four of his first 10 NFL passes for 36 yards — a potential touchdown pass was dropped — and he also gained 15 yards on a scramble. Not that the Bucs want to encourage that sort of thing. “In this league, quarterbacks who run don't survive,” Williams said. “The friendliest place is to stay in the pocket. “When you get out on the Autobahn, there are a whole lot of other cars and they're looking for a collision. . . . They're fast out there and everyone wants a shot at that little Porsche.”

Among the advantages of throwing the ball is that it gives the other side someone else to chase.

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His ability sounds potentially promising to me, which is why I picked him up. The fact that his head coach in Tampa described him as a "Career backup" doesn't sit well with me though. I don't know why he would have such words for someone who hasn't even been given a chance as a starter, but it doesn't sound like the coach is tremendously confident in his long-term ability to lead the team. If he can get any wins with this team he's on now though the coach should give him second thoughts.

Edited by Crazysight
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