Mike Johnson was behind Coffee every step
September 23, 2008
About halfway through Glen Coffee’s 87-yard run to the end zone last Saturday against Arkansas, left guard Mike Johnson had one thought.
“Don’t get caught,” Johnson said Tuesday after practice. “Because I was sprinting down there right behind him and I said, ‘Glen, don’t you get caught now, I’m pretty tired right now, I don’t need 5 more yards to go.’”
A feature on Coffee will be in tomorrow’s Dothan Eagle. Johnson said he remembered talking to Coffee just before the big run.
“ I told Glen when we were in the huddle – I think they pinned us on the 12 or the 13 – I said, ‘87 yards, that’s what we need to do on this drive. That’s more yards for us to get on this drive, more clock for us to eat up.’ We didn’t eat up much clock, but we got the yardage.”
All at once.
And what did Coffee say in response?
“He said, I’m going right behind y’all,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Coffee and the other running backs deserve credit for their production. And much of the damage comes between the tackles.
“I think it speaks more to our running backs, pressing holes and making reads this year on the defensive linemen,” Johnson said. “We’ve obviously made our blocks but they’ve done a great job cutting off of them and staying inside. They’re pressing the holes real well on our zone plays and staying in ‘A’ gap powers and they’re running hard. They’re running downhill and haven’t been knocked backward hardly at all this year.”
Of course, the challenge gets tougher this week when Alabama visits No. 3 Georgia.
