Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee reaffirmed his and the coaching staff’s confidence in quarterback Jeremy Johnson during a press conference on Wednesday. The highly-touted junior has thrown five interceptions in the first two games, the first SEC quarterback to do so since Tennessee’s Jonathan Crompton in 2009, but Lashlee believes as strongly in him as ever.
“We really believe in Jeremy," Lashlee said. "He’s going to be a great player. He did a lot of things really well last game.”
He praised Johnson’s decision-making that largely went unnoticed, saying, “He was throwing the ball away, because they were doubling somebody or they were doing this or they gave us a different look and there was nothing there. He threw it away, and sometimes that’s a great play.”
He also praised the 6-foot-5-inch signal caller’s play late in the game.
“When the game was on the line and the pressure was on, he led us down and he made a big-time third down throw for a touchdown," Lashlee said. "That’s not easy to do.”
Lashlee believes that he and the other coaches putting Johnson in bad positions has accounted for the majority of his struggles.
“I’ve got to do a better job putting him in positive situations to be successful," Lashlee said. "The guys around him have to do a better job.”
Lashlee believes Jeremy Johnson’s first interception against Jacksonville State was the only poor decision he made during the course of the game.
“We put him in a bad position there," Lashlee said. "When I put him in a bad position, he’s just got to take the easy way out, and not try to make something out of a bad situation and move on. That’s going to happen in every game. I was proud of the way he bounced back, and really, overall, he threw the ball nicely.”
Balance will be crucial for the Tigers’ offense moving forward, according to Lashlee. He said, “We’ve got to be able to run the football, especially in the first half, better. When the game’s been on the line, we’ve run the ball well.”
He continued, “We’ve got to get more guys going, and that’ll help everything. That’ll help Jeremy in the passing game and all that, so it just all goes hand-in-hand.”
Balance could be Auburn’s key to generating more big plays. Auburn’s offense has just four plays of 20 or more yards this season. Regarding creating more explosive plays, Lashlee said, “That’s definitely something we’ve talked about hard with the guys this week, generating those plays and giving them opportunities to make those plays, because that’s a big part of our offense.”
He believes that balance will lead to more explosiveness, stating, “We’ve got to be balanced, and when we’re balanced we can take advantage of explosive plays, not just in the passing game, but in the running game.”
Despite a lack of explosive plays, Lashlee believes Auburn has a better understanding of its offensive identity at this point in the season than the 2013 team did at the same point.
“Our guys have had a great week of practice, but I think, as coaches, we got a lot of good information those first two games," Lashlee said. "Two different scenarios, two different endings, we learned a lot about every guy on our team. We know what positions to put them in, what to do with them, what we’re good at, what we need to work at more. We feel like we’ve got a really good plan to move forward. Hopefully it starts this week.”
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