Here is what Rashad told reporters:
Question: What was your playing weight at Alabama?
Rashad Johnson: I played around 185 (pounds), 188. Yeah, this is a big difference.
Q: What was your weight at the Senior Bowl?
RS: 195
Q: How do you feel a little bit heavier. Have you been able to maintain your quickness and agility?
RS: Yeah, I felt well. That was what was so special about it. They really helped me be able to put the weight in all the right places and not lose any my speed, any of my quickness on the field.
Q: How do you see yourself a little bit heavier. Have teams said anything about your position in terms of safety versus corner?
RS: I'm definitely a safety. I haven't had any teams approach me about playing any corner. Everybody is just asking me if I feel comfortable playing in the box and things like that. I think coming in and showing that I weighed over 200 (pounds). I don't mind coming in and playing down on the run, and I haven't lost any of speed so I can still play the middle of the field and have my range.
Q: Do you think it helps you that you played for Coach (Nick) Saban at Alabama with an NFL-type of scheme?
RS: Definitely, I think it helped me a lot. His system is very complicated, but at the same time when you learn it and get the details of it, it helps you in being a playmaker because it gives you an opportunity to put yourself in position. You make the calls out there on the field. You put yourself in what you think is the best possible coverage to play, and it allows you to be your own coach and your own leader on the field.
Q: Because of that do you sense that the 3-4 teams are more interested in you?
RS: I think so. I've had some teams that have talked to me about coverages and when I sit down with them and show them what I know and what I can do a lot of them say it's familiar to what they do. I think it does help me a lot that I went through that and I've been able to pick up on it and show them that stuff when I got here.
Q: Did you talk to the Bears about the Cover-2?
RS: Yes, I talked to the Bears. We went into the Cover-2 lingo. We also talked about some of the things I might have played like a Cover-7, where we play like a quarters with a man concept, and we went into that and a lot of different coverages. He drew up some routes, and I let him know that I knew what to do on everything.
Q: What are you hoping to accomplish here this weekend?
RS: That I'm a complete player. That if you get this guy you got a guy that can come in and play for your team right now, even if it's not starting safety. Its a guy who can come in and play on special teams and contribute. And just a positive guy that you don't have to worry about off the field. He's a self motivator and a complete player.
Q: How has coach Saban helped you prepare for this?
RS: He's helped me a lot. I mean the way our defense was run and the way he coached it. I think it's similar to the NFL. He expected a lot out of us. He was very detailed in the way he coached us, and in the way that we played our positions, so I think that's important. He always taught us about consistency. He said, 'That's what great players are, they're consistent in their play.' He drilled that into us, and I think that helped me because I've heard a lot of coaches just say that here -- that it's very important as a DB to be consistent, the same things that I've been hearing for the last two years. I'm comfortable in hearing that and knowing that I'm a consistent player.
Q: Can you talk about how you came to be a walk-on?
RS: I came out of high school and I didn't get any offers by any big schools. The biggest school I got offered by was the Citadel. I was always an Alabama fan, and I wanted to go there and play. I went to my Mom and my Dad and I told them the dream that I had. They said that they would sacrifice and let me go in and chase that dream. I went in with a mindset of I'm coming in here to play; I'm doing whatever I can to help and contribute to the team. When I got there I was able to play on special teams. They saw that I could tackle and play and my role just became bigger because we had some great safeties that ended up leaving, Roman Harper and Charlie
(Peprah), and nobody behind them had any playing experience. They came to me and let me know that I had an opportunity to play there if I wanted to make the move, and I made the move from running back to safety and it's just been all uphill from there.
Q: You were a seventh-string RB?
RS: It was down the line. It was probably about seven, if not eight. It was tough. It wasn't just a cakewalk because there was a time I was there, and we had some guys injured and I was moving up the depth chart and getting an opportunity to show what I could do in the spring and then the fall came around and we had signed four running backs. It was a lot of great players, and I got moved back down the depth chart. It was a tough time there, but once I got the opportunity to move back down to safety I just didn't care where I moved to. I just wanted to get on the field. I wanted a bigger role than just playing on special teams. When I got the opportunity to move over I was excited about it, and I just took all the coaching I could and let the coaches build me into the players I am.
Q: Any teams outside of Atlanta and Chicago contact you?
RS: I've talked to San Diego, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. It's been a big list of teams that I've talked to since I've been here.
Q: When you played at Alabama did you have free safety and strong safety or just safeties with the responsibility shifting on the play?
RS: We started off just having safeties. We'd play like right and left, and because coach Saban he wants you know what you do all over the field. He doesn't want you to just know what the free safety does or the strong safety does. Once both of the safeties learned everybody's responsibilities then he designated a free and a strong. I was designated as the free safety, but there were times I had to roll down and play in the box and do what a strong safety does because offenses game-planned against that. That's the way coach Saban wanted us to learn it, and it probably helped us out late in the season when teams tried to do that to us.
Q: How much of an honor was it being a two-time captain at Alabama?
RS: It was a tremendous honor that I was voted as a captain because juniors weren't even on the nomination list. It was a list full of seniors. We're sitting in the meeting room and a guy stands up and tells coach that he wants my name to be put on there. It felt great. I was really, really honored that my teammates thought that way about me. Then to get it again this year it made me feel even better. It makes me feel like the hard work I put in it didn't go unnoticed.
Q: Who was the player that nominated you?
RS: It was Chris Rogers.
Q: Were you surprised that you got voted a captain?
RS: Definitely because we had some guys who were great players, and I guess the guys on the team noticed it. They said it's not all about being a great player. It's about what you do to motivate others and how you affect other players on the team. I'm glad that I was the guy they looked at who was a positive guy who affected his teammates in a positive way.
Q: Do you think that was a testament to a fact you were a walk-on?
RS: I definitely think so because when I first came in I was on the field grinding it out every day, and I was having guys telling me to slow down and 'don't do it that way.' I just never listened because those guys were where I wanted to be. Their school was being paid for and they were having an opportunity to live out a dream that I wanted to live.
Q: Did you have scholarship offers coming out?
RS: Yes, I was offered by (University of North Alabama), which is Division 2, and West Alabama, which is Division 2, and I also got offered by the Citadel.
Q: When did you realize you could play?
RS: I think I realized when I got on the field and started playing on special teams my freshman year. I was going down making tackles on kickoffs and punts, getting voted the Special Teams player of the Week on the team and things like that. That let me know that, 'Hey, I can play at this level, and as soon as my role gets to be bigger I'm going to put that same work in and show that I can play at the next level after this one.'
Q: Do you think you fit better as a free safety or a strong safety at the next level?
RS: I really don't know. I think I can play both. I don't want to limit my game and say I can only do the free or I can only play the strong. I think that I can play either safety. I can come in the box, and I can read the front line and fit in my gaps and make tackles. I can also play in the high and get over the top, and help my corners over the top and be able to fill allies on the run from free safety as well.
Q: In your mind are you one of the top two or three safeties in this draft?
RS: Yeah, you have to think that way. You have to have a confidence in yourself or you're not going to be able to compete and do it at your highest level if you think that you're not as good as some of the guys here or you think that you don't belong or you're not supposed to be here. I definitely think I'm one of the top safeties here, and I definitely feel that my skills are going to be able to show that once I get on the field on Tuesday.
Q: What is it like playing DB under Nick Saban, that's his specialty?
RS: It's a lot of fun. What makes it so fun is that it is his specialty, he knows so much and he gives you so much knowledge of the game and he's able to help you with the smallest things, things you never thought would be helpful as a DB. For me for instance as a safety, just reading the uncovered linemen, being able to read run or pass, and if I'm in the middle of the field I read run we got an extra guy coming down on the run that nobody is going to block, just small things like that were able to help me out as a player to play at the level I played at.
Q: Do you feel like you have as good a pedigree as anyone heading into the
NFL?
RS: I think so. The coaches in the NFL respect coach Saban. They respect his opinion. I think for me to be able to play under him and produce the way I did and be able to learn his system and be a leader back there I think it only just adds to the positives for me. Then for him to be able to vouch for me, 'This guy can play at the next level.' I think that's only going to help me.
Q: What do you think your teammate Glen Coffee brings to the next level?
RS: I think Glen is a positive guy who is a self-motivator completely. He is his own person. He does things that Glen Coffee likes to do regardless of what other people say. He is a downhill runner that is going to get the extra yard or two when you need it. He's not getting knocked back when he has the ball in his hands. Some days at practice you see guys telling him to slow down. He's not, and he didn't have to work that hard. He was the starting running back. He didn't have to come to practice every day and bust it like that, but he did. I think that speaks a lot about him.
Question: What was your playing weight at Alabama?
Rashad Johnson: I played around 185 (pounds), 188. Yeah, this is a big difference.
Q: What was your weight at the Senior Bowl?
RS: 195
Q: How do you feel a little bit heavier. Have you been able to maintain your quickness and agility?
RS: Yeah, I felt well. That was what was so special about it. They really helped me be able to put the weight in all the right places and not lose any my speed, any of my quickness on the field.
Q: How do you see yourself a little bit heavier. Have teams said anything about your position in terms of safety versus corner?
RS: I'm definitely a safety. I haven't had any teams approach me about playing any corner. Everybody is just asking me if I feel comfortable playing in the box and things like that. I think coming in and showing that I weighed over 200 (pounds). I don't mind coming in and playing down on the run, and I haven't lost any of speed so I can still play the middle of the field and have my range.
Q: Do you think it helps you that you played for Coach (Nick) Saban at Alabama with an NFL-type of scheme?
RS: Definitely, I think it helped me a lot. His system is very complicated, but at the same time when you learn it and get the details of it, it helps you in being a playmaker because it gives you an opportunity to put yourself in position. You make the calls out there on the field. You put yourself in what you think is the best possible coverage to play, and it allows you to be your own coach and your own leader on the field.
Q: Because of that do you sense that the 3-4 teams are more interested in you?
RS: I think so. I've had some teams that have talked to me about coverages and when I sit down with them and show them what I know and what I can do a lot of them say it's familiar to what they do. I think it does help me a lot that I went through that and I've been able to pick up on it and show them that stuff when I got here.
Q: Did you talk to the Bears about the Cover-2?
RS: Yes, I talked to the Bears. We went into the Cover-2 lingo. We also talked about some of the things I might have played like a Cover-7, where we play like a quarters with a man concept, and we went into that and a lot of different coverages. He drew up some routes, and I let him know that I knew what to do on everything.
Q: What are you hoping to accomplish here this weekend?
RS: That I'm a complete player. That if you get this guy you got a guy that can come in and play for your team right now, even if it's not starting safety. Its a guy who can come in and play on special teams and contribute. And just a positive guy that you don't have to worry about off the field. He's a self motivator and a complete player.
Q: How has coach Saban helped you prepare for this?
RS: He's helped me a lot. I mean the way our defense was run and the way he coached it. I think it's similar to the NFL. He expected a lot out of us. He was very detailed in the way he coached us, and in the way that we played our positions, so I think that's important. He always taught us about consistency. He said, 'That's what great players are, they're consistent in their play.' He drilled that into us, and I think that helped me because I've heard a lot of coaches just say that here -- that it's very important as a DB to be consistent, the same things that I've been hearing for the last two years. I'm comfortable in hearing that and knowing that I'm a consistent player.
Q: Can you talk about how you came to be a walk-on?
RS: I came out of high school and I didn't get any offers by any big schools. The biggest school I got offered by was the Citadel. I was always an Alabama fan, and I wanted to go there and play. I went to my Mom and my Dad and I told them the dream that I had. They said that they would sacrifice and let me go in and chase that dream. I went in with a mindset of I'm coming in here to play; I'm doing whatever I can to help and contribute to the team. When I got there I was able to play on special teams. They saw that I could tackle and play and my role just became bigger because we had some great safeties that ended up leaving, Roman Harper and Charlie
(Peprah), and nobody behind them had any playing experience. They came to me and let me know that I had an opportunity to play there if I wanted to make the move, and I made the move from running back to safety and it's just been all uphill from there.
Q: You were a seventh-string RB?
RS: It was down the line. It was probably about seven, if not eight. It was tough. It wasn't just a cakewalk because there was a time I was there, and we had some guys injured and I was moving up the depth chart and getting an opportunity to show what I could do in the spring and then the fall came around and we had signed four running backs. It was a lot of great players, and I got moved back down the depth chart. It was a tough time there, but once I got the opportunity to move back down to safety I just didn't care where I moved to. I just wanted to get on the field. I wanted a bigger role than just playing on special teams. When I got the opportunity to move over I was excited about it, and I just took all the coaching I could and let the coaches build me into the players I am.
Q: Any teams outside of Atlanta and Chicago contact you?
RS: I've talked to San Diego, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. It's been a big list of teams that I've talked to since I've been here.
Q: When you played at Alabama did you have free safety and strong safety or just safeties with the responsibility shifting on the play?
RS: We started off just having safeties. We'd play like right and left, and because coach Saban he wants you know what you do all over the field. He doesn't want you to just know what the free safety does or the strong safety does. Once both of the safeties learned everybody's responsibilities then he designated a free and a strong. I was designated as the free safety, but there were times I had to roll down and play in the box and do what a strong safety does because offenses game-planned against that. That's the way coach Saban wanted us to learn it, and it probably helped us out late in the season when teams tried to do that to us.
Q: How much of an honor was it being a two-time captain at Alabama?
RS: It was a tremendous honor that I was voted as a captain because juniors weren't even on the nomination list. It was a list full of seniors. We're sitting in the meeting room and a guy stands up and tells coach that he wants my name to be put on there. It felt great. I was really, really honored that my teammates thought that way about me. Then to get it again this year it made me feel even better. It makes me feel like the hard work I put in it didn't go unnoticed.
Q: Who was the player that nominated you?
RS: It was Chris Rogers.
Q: Were you surprised that you got voted a captain?
RS: Definitely because we had some guys who were great players, and I guess the guys on the team noticed it. They said it's not all about being a great player. It's about what you do to motivate others and how you affect other players on the team. I'm glad that I was the guy they looked at who was a positive guy who affected his teammates in a positive way.
Q: Do you think that was a testament to a fact you were a walk-on?
RS: I definitely think so because when I first came in I was on the field grinding it out every day, and I was having guys telling me to slow down and 'don't do it that way.' I just never listened because those guys were where I wanted to be. Their school was being paid for and they were having an opportunity to live out a dream that I wanted to live.
Q: Did you have scholarship offers coming out?
RS: Yes, I was offered by (University of North Alabama), which is Division 2, and West Alabama, which is Division 2, and I also got offered by the Citadel.
Q: When did you realize you could play?
RS: I think I realized when I got on the field and started playing on special teams my freshman year. I was going down making tackles on kickoffs and punts, getting voted the Special Teams player of the Week on the team and things like that. That let me know that, 'Hey, I can play at this level, and as soon as my role gets to be bigger I'm going to put that same work in and show that I can play at the next level after this one.'
Q: Do you think you fit better as a free safety or a strong safety at the next level?
RS: I really don't know. I think I can play both. I don't want to limit my game and say I can only do the free or I can only play the strong. I think that I can play either safety. I can come in the box, and I can read the front line and fit in my gaps and make tackles. I can also play in the high and get over the top, and help my corners over the top and be able to fill allies on the run from free safety as well.
Q: In your mind are you one of the top two or three safeties in this draft?
RS: Yeah, you have to think that way. You have to have a confidence in yourself or you're not going to be able to compete and do it at your highest level if you think that you're not as good as some of the guys here or you think that you don't belong or you're not supposed to be here. I definitely think I'm one of the top safeties here, and I definitely feel that my skills are going to be able to show that once I get on the field on Tuesday.
Q: What is it like playing DB under Nick Saban, that's his specialty?
RS: It's a lot of fun. What makes it so fun is that it is his specialty, he knows so much and he gives you so much knowledge of the game and he's able to help you with the smallest things, things you never thought would be helpful as a DB. For me for instance as a safety, just reading the uncovered linemen, being able to read run or pass, and if I'm in the middle of the field I read run we got an extra guy coming down on the run that nobody is going to block, just small things like that were able to help me out as a player to play at the level I played at.
Q: Do you feel like you have as good a pedigree as anyone heading into the
NFL?
RS: I think so. The coaches in the NFL respect coach Saban. They respect his opinion. I think for me to be able to play under him and produce the way I did and be able to learn his system and be a leader back there I think it only just adds to the positives for me. Then for him to be able to vouch for me, 'This guy can play at the next level.' I think that's only going to help me.
Q: What do you think your teammate Glen Coffee brings to the next level?
RS: I think Glen is a positive guy who is a self-motivator completely. He is his own person. He does things that Glen Coffee likes to do regardless of what other people say. He is a downhill runner that is going to get the extra yard or two when you need it. He's not getting knocked back when he has the ball in his hands. Some days at practice you see guys telling him to slow down. He's not, and he didn't have to work that hard. He was the starting running back. He didn't have to come to practice every day and bust it like that, but he did. I think that speaks a lot about him.
