Awesome article on A.J. Johnson

#3
#3
Just a small quote from the end of the article: (love this...)

Added Jalen Reeves-Maybin, "I try not to let A.J. down. I'm trying my hardest to not let A.J. Johnson down because he's not going to let anyone down. He goes hard every rep. I'm just trying to match his effort."

Freshman Dillon Bates has found a seat next to Johnson in every linebacker meeting, defensive meeting, the cafeteria, anywhere Johnson has been talking Bates has been listening and asking questions trying to understand the defense and life in the SEC. Bates has a true appreciation for Johnson's desire to teach and his ability to lead.

"He's a great leader," Bates said. "He's been working harder than anyone on the team and really leading us into battle. Inky Johnson came and he talked about if we all went into battle who would turn around and lead us. Everyone said A.J. would be the leader. He would take us into battle. That's how we look at going into games. A.J. is taking us into battle."

Battles that Johnson is more prepared for than ever before, and Saturdays that Johnson understands he's responsible for having his teammates ready for as well.
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#4
#4
Man it sure would be nice to see us get back to winning ways in this young man's senior season. Time to send these guys out on top like we used to.
 
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#5
#5
This was my favorite excerpt from the write up; says it all

He was in the meeting Thursday and it was the best thing I saw. A.J. saw a guy not giving his all and here I got a linebacker crying saying, 'I want to win. I want to win, I'm not going to accept this.' He's talking before the whole defense with tears in his eyes. He said, 'You don't understand. It's about winning.' That kind of a leader and if he stays healthy he can do anything he wants to do."
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#6
#6
My favorite quote. I envision here comes the boom by pod playing in the background as I read this. It was reiterated in a seperate practice report as well that when AJ is on the field it's a whole other level.

"It hit him that he can do anything he wants," Thigpen said. "Now he gets it. That's how it works. For guys it just comes on. It got so simple for him. Things they were attacking him with earlier in the (2013) year, all of that went away. People just kept saying he's this and he's that. He can't cover in space, yet end of the season no one was trying to attack him. He got it. His eyes now are spot on. He knows when to look at the quarterback. He knows how to fit the power. He knows the lingo. Very instinctive and athletic, now we are compounding it with his football knowledge. He has an ease and a ton of confidence on the field now. The offense will tell you when he's not on the field, we are different. It's a different kind of team when he's on the field.
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#8
#8
AJ Get's it. 2014 will be his finest season for the VOLS. He will be no. 2 on the tackle list by season's end.
I knew he was a tackling machine but I had no idea A. Spiva had that many tackles.
 
#11
#11
Anybody that gets through our guards is going to get the AJ SMACKDOWN. Dude is going to get some hits in! All these negavols did last year was trash talk him.
 
#12
#12
#13
#13
I posted this up when AJ was being poor mouthed a bit in the recruiting forum. Say what you want about our previous defenses and yes every player has weaknesses but AJ is a damn beast anyway you slice it. Dude will ball out this year.

CAREER HONORS
2014 Preseason All-SEC First-Team
2014 Butkus Award Watch List
2014 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List
2014 Nagurski Watch List
2014 Bednarik Award Watch List
2014 Phil Steele Preseason First Team All-American
2014 Phil Steele Preseason First Team All-SEC
2014 Athlon Sports Preseason Second Team All-American
2014 Athlon Sports Preseason First Team All-SEC
2014 Lindy's Sports Preseason First team All-American
2014 Lindy's Sports Preseason First team All-SEC
2014 Sporting News Preseason Third Team All-American
2014 Sporting News Preseason First Team All-SEC
2014 USA Today Preseason First Team All-SEC
2014 Lott IMPACT Watch List
National Strength and Conditioning Association All-American
College Sports Madness All-SEC Second Team
2013 Sporting News' All-SEC First Team
2013 Athlon Sports All-SEC First Team
2013 Associated Press All-SEC First Team
2013 SEC Coaches First Team All-SEC
2013 SEC Coaches Preseason First Team All-SEC
2013 Media Preseason First Team All-SEC
2013 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List
2013 Butkus Award Watch List
2013 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Preseason Watch List
2013 Bednarik Award Watch List
2013 Lott Trophy Watch List
2013 Lindy's Preseason Second Team All-American
2013 Lindy's Preseason First Team All-SEC
2013 Lindy's Preseason No. 3 Top Inside Linebacker
2013 Athlon Sports Preseason First Team All-SEC
2013 Athlon Sports Preseason Fourth Team All-American
2013 Sporting News Preseason Second Team All-American
2013 Sporting News Preseason First Team All-SEC
2013 Phil Steele Preseason Third Team All-American
2013 Phil Steele Preseason First Team All-SEC
2012 Coaches All-SEC Second Team
Member of 2012 Preseason Butkus Watch List
2012 All-SEC Preseason Second Team by league media
2012 All-SEC Preseason Third Team by league coaches
CFPA Hon. Mention Linebacker of the Week (Oct. 14, 2012)
2011 Consensus Freshman All-American
2011 First-Team Freshman All-American by Football Writers of America, The Sporting News, Fox Sports, Phil Steele, Yahoo! Sports
2011 five Freshman All-American honors set Tennessee record, breaking mark of four by Eric Berry in 2009
2011 SEC All-Freshman Team selection
SEC Freshman of the Week (10/22 Alabama)
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#15
#15
Biopsyman said:
Has a real shot of being a 1st rounder with a great season
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He is a good instinctive player and seems to be in the right place at the right time but he can't pass cover and is rather slow if he had to run someone down from behind


Late 2nd day draft selection. 4th or 5th rounder.
 
#16
#16
THIS IS WHAT GETS ME PUMPED!!!

Freshman Dillon Bates has found a seat next to Johnson in every linebacker meeting, defensive meeting, the cafeteria, anywhere Johnson has been talking Bates has been listening and asking questions trying to understand the defense and life in the SEC. Bates has a true appreciation for Johnson's desire to teach and his ability to lead.
 
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#17
#17
Love the fact that Bates is taking up with him so well. Kid has all kinds of potential and AJ is a great one to be learning the intangibles from.
 
#19
#19
Rudy123 said:
He is a good instinctive player and seems to be in the right place at the right time but he can't pass cover and is rather slow if he had to run someone down from behind


Late 2nd day draft selection. 4th or 5th rounder.
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Be prepared to eat crow. From limited practice footage that's available, AJ looks a whole lot faster. I'm sure he heard all the critics talk about him being too slow and used that to fuel his fire to get even better.
 
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#21
#21
Hayezb said:
Yup.

Zalinsky, what else does our best defensive player have to do in order to prove you wrong? Honest question.
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I'd like to see him shed blocks better and make tackles closer to the line of scrimmage. Also would like to see him affect the opponent's quarterback more. I'm sure this is not accurate, but I swear that I read that he has no quarterback sacks in his career. If true, how is this possible for a middle linebacker who has played as much as he has? Watch the replay of last year's Georgia game. He gets blocked downfield a lot. Especially in the first half. Like I said, I want to see him succeed this year. If he has an Al Wilson like performance against Florida this year, I will take back everything I have ever said about him.
 
#22
#22
Ray Zalinsky said:
I'd like to see him shed blocks better and make tackles closer to the line of scrimmage. Also would like to see him affect the opponent's quarterback more. I'm sure this is not accurate, but I swear that I read that he has no quarterback sacks in his career. If true, how is this possible for a middle linebacker who has played as much as he has? Watch the replay of last year's Georgia game. He gets blocked downfield a lot. Especially in the first half. Like I said, I want to see him succeed this year. If he has an Al Wilson like performance against Florida this year, I will take back everything I have ever said about him.
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Oh, all he has to do is match what UT's best ILB of all time did? That's it? Doesn't take much to earn your respect.
 
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#23
#23
Diceman said:
Oh, all he has to do is match what UT's best ILB of all time did? That's it? Doesn't take much to earn your respect.
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Ha ha. I know. I don't ask for much, do I? But seriously, do you ever recall AJ taking over and dominating a game? Or even slightly changing the outcome? I realize that we have had some all time bad defenses, and it takes a lot of people working together for a player to have the freedom of movement to really dominate, but I have just not seen it. A ton of tackles? Absolutely. All heart? Absolutely. Team leader? No doubt. A dominant middle linebacker by UT standards? Show me video evidence of any game that he took over. And again, I will gladly be called an idiot after he totally elevates our defense this year
 
#24
#24
Ray Zalinsky said:
I'd like to see him shed blocks better and make tackles closer to the line of scrimmage. Also would like to see him affect the opponent's quarterback more. I'm sure this is not accurate, but I swear that I read that he has no quarterback sacks in his career. If true, how is this possible for a middle linebacker who has played as much as he has? Watch the replay of last year's Georgia game. He gets blocked downfield a lot. Especially in the first half. Like I said, I want to see him succeed this year. If he has an Al Wilson like performance against Florida this year, I will take back everything I have ever said about him.
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his stats

CAREER SEASON TOTALS
Defense
Season G Solo Asst Total Sacks/Yds TFL/Yards FF FR PBU INT/Yds QBH Tackles/Game
2011 12 37 43 80 – 4.5/7 1 2 – – – 6.7
2012 12 63 75 138 1/10 8.5/25 – 1 1 – 8 11.5
2013 12 60 46 106 – 8.5/17 – 1 3 – 3 8.8
TOTAL 36 160 164 324 1/10 21.5/49 1 4 4 – 11 9.0
Rushing
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He has 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 11 hurries, and 21+ tackles for loss. I can see why some would want better stats but he's also been a product of the defense as a whole.
 
#25
#25
Ray Zalinsky said:
Ha ha. I know. I don't ask for much, do I? But seriously, do you ever recall AJ taking over and dominating a game? Or even slightly changing the outcome? I realize that we have had some all time bad defenses, and it takes a lot of people working together for a player to have the freedom of movement to really dominate, but I have just not seen it. A ton of tackles? Absolutely. All heart? Absolutely. Team leader? No doubt. A dominant middle linebacker by UT standards? Show me video evidence of any game that he took over. And again, I will gladly be called an idiot after he totally elevates our defense this year
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I get where you're coming from, but the defensive line has been sub par the last several years. I think he dominates this year if there is better push out of the defensive line
 
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