Here's the transcript:
http://www.theacc.com/page/media_days_m-footbl_2016_live
CPJ didn't hear the question on Griffin and Whitley. He asked, did you ask about Chris Griffin, and then gave the answer printed.
Here's some answers that seem to reflect some positive spin for us:
Q. Take a look at the chemistry between Justin Thomas and the runningbacks you've had through the spring so far, what can you say about team chemistry offensively.
COACH JOHNSON: I think each year it's a work in progress. It starts probably in the off-season, then spring, then summer conditioning, fall camp. It's an ongoing deal.
Last year what people didn't realize, and two years ago we were really good on offense, I mean, really good. We lost two wide receivers to the NFL. We lost our top four slot backs. We lost our two runningbacks. We had seven injuries to the A backs in spring and fall camp. We lost our top two B backs coming in.
Justin was surrounded by guys who had never played. So the chemistry was not going to be that good. I looked on the field last year at Miami, the score was 7-7. We were in the start of the second quarter. We had the ball on their four yardline. I have nine freshmen playing offense. When that happens, it's tough to be successful in our league, on this level in general.
I think Justin will be a little more comfortable this year having some guys who have played. We're still going to be young in the skill positions. But fortunately those guys all played a year ago, so it's not going to be like they're totally starting brand-new.
I think that will make him a better player.
...
Q. On the defensive side of the ball, you had two freshmen that got some good reps last year. What do you expect from them this year?
[question actually mentioned Brant Mitchell and AJ Gray]
COACH JOHNSON: We had to play a lot of freshmen everywhere, especially over there. I thought that Brant Mitchell ended up being our starting inside linebacker. I expect he's going to really grow.
A.J. Gray probably had as good a spring as anybody on our football team. He was surviving last year on pure athleticism out there because he wasn't sure what he was doing as a true freshman playing safety. I think he's got the opportunity to be one of the all-time great players at Georgia Tech. If he can build off his spring, he had a tremendous spring, I think you'll be excited to watch him play this fall.
So we've probably got more depth than we've ever had, especially on defense. I feel like we've got probably eight guys we can play on the defensive line. We're going to be new in the secondary a little bit. But A.J. comes in at one safety that's played, and the other safety, they're competing right now, probably be Corey Griffin if we played today.
We got a couple of corners that transferred in, sat out last year. Overall I expect to be much better on defense than we were a year ago. Certainly hopeful.
