SANTA CLARA – The Niners newest quarterback, Josh Johnson, spoke today about his comfort level in the offense, his history with Colin Kaepernick, and why he likes Jim Harbaugh’s coaching style so much. Here’s a transcript.
Q: How has it been going for you getting into the playbook?
JOSH JOHNSON: It’s been going great. I’ve been fortunate for the last few years to play for a variety of different offensive coordinators, playing for Jon Gruden, Coach Harbaugh, so I’ve been able to learn the whole concepts of the game, and now with Greg Roman’s offense I’m getting a feel for how he does things. Just having this warm-up period, or as us quarterbacks like to call it – the oil-up period – It’s been great for me because now I’m a lot more comfortable in the offense, playing a lot faster, getting through things a lot quicker, getting to know my teammates a lot better now.
Q: Do you have any early memories of your time working out with Colin Kaepernick in high school?
JOSH JOHNSON: Yeah, he was a lot bigger than me then. He’s still a lot bigger than me. We’ve been working out together for a long time now. A lot of our mechanics we learned from the same guy. It’s good to have him as a teammate. He’s a great guy.
Q: What’s your impression of this offense?
JOSH JOHNSON: We always want to be in a position to have a good play. I’ve been around coaches who believe “We’re going to do what we do and they have to stop us.” Coach (Harbaugh) always wants to put you in position to have the most successful play because it’s hard to get points and to get yards in this league.
Q: You knew Harbaugh when he was starting out as a head coach at the University of San Diego. Has he changed his approach to coaching since then?
JOSH JOHNSON: No. He’s always pushing you, breaking you out of your comfort zone and challenging you. That’s who he’s always been. In college he used to always tell me, “I make it hard for you in practice so the game is a lot easier,” and he still does that. He pushes you hard in practice. He wants to make it hard on you, and then when you get in the game you can go out there and relax and be more confident.
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