Sunday, November 05, 2006

Quotes After the Game

Senior NCST Linebacker Pat Lowery:

"Everyone sees [Johnson] making all those crazy catches but don't see the 12-yard runs with two [defenders] on him," Lowery said. "He changes so much in the game plan. It makes it tough for us."


More on Calvin from an NCST player:

"What else can you do?" State safety Garland Heath asked. "You can't put the whole team on him."


An interesting comment from AJ Davis, a Pack safety:

"He's a challenge to cover," Davis said. "They say he's not a great route-runner, but that's not true. He's a real polished player."


Wonder who told him that? How about this quote from a pro scout at the game (from AJC article):

Pro scouts are not permitted to comment on college underclassmen. But one NFL scout attending Saturday’s game said of Johnson, “As I see it, he’ll be the top player taken [in the draft] if he comes out.” When asked if there was any reason to believe Johnson won’t turn pro after this season, the scout said: “There’s always the chance he won’t. But he’d be stupid not to [come out]. His stock will never be higher. You see him on the field. They triple-cover him sometimes and it doesn’t matter. They double him and he still goes up and scores a touchdown.

“I haven’t seen anybody like him, ever. You don’t see guys who are that big and that fast. He’s a 6-5 receiver. He’s a freak.”



Joe Anaoi on the secret of their 4th quarter success:

"There are so many things within our program: our coaching, our senior leadership. There's one thing that really doesn't get enough credit," defensive tackle Joe Anoai said. "I would say our conditioning program, our weightlifting coaches, [director of player development Eric] Sciano, he does a fabulous job conditioning the heck out of us over the summer.


"We wear people down. A lot of times in the past, teams with more depth than us have done that to us."


A beat rag writer for NCST:

Against Georgia Tech, State actually had good luck. Tech's Reggie Ball, a quarterback continually locked in an internal battle between the Good Reggie and the interception-prone Bad Reggie, obliged State by letting Bad Reggie toss a pair to the home team.



RECORD NOTES
Reggie Ball passed the 9,000 total yard mark last night and moved into 9th place in ACC history by doing so. Say what you want - that's impressive. His 4 TD passes also moved him into 2nd place in Tech history, only behind Joe Hamilton now. By the way, he has already topped his personal best of 16 TD's in a season - he's up to 17 now...... Way to go Reggie ................... Calvin Johnson set some records of his own. His 11th 100+ receiving yard game put him into 1st place in that category. His 10th and 11th TD's catches this season beat Kelly Campbell's single season record, and tied Campbell's career mark of 24.


How about some great pictures from the game: