• last year
Mississippi State transfer Dillon Johnson talks about coming to the UW.
Transcript
00:00 >> Again, how was the connection made between you and Washington?
00:02 They just call you out of the blue and you said, I don't think about it.
00:05 >> I mean, you know how to, are you talking about the recruiting process?
00:09 Yeah, for sure.
00:10 I mean, they called me, they actually were the first thing to call me.
00:13 So, it was a lot of, they wanted me, and I wanted to be there.
00:18 So, we made things happen.
00:20 >> No second thoughts about Seattle, that's way up there.
00:22 >> [LAUGH] I mean, it's far from home, but it's all good.
00:25 I mean, different scenery, something different, and that's what I wanted.
00:30 >> Was it Auburn that was the other team after you pretty hard, or?
00:34 >> Yeah, I'd definitely say Auburn.
00:35 They wanted me to stay down here, down south.
00:37 Really hard-nosed team, tough, got a lot of competitors over there.
00:43 Especially one of my guys, Jarquez Hunter, he really wanted me to come over there,
00:48 but I just had to make the best decisions for myself.
00:50 >> What was that process like, kind of those final days, deciding and weighing,
00:55 okay, do I wanna come back to Seattle?
00:57 >> It was definitely tough.
00:59 The main thing was being away from home, but I had to understand that in life,
01:05 hey guys.
01:06 [LAUGH] But in life, some things you gotta do to better yourself and
01:11 your future, especially for my son, too.
01:14 So I felt like this was the best opportunity for me and my future, for sure.
01:21 >> Obviously, playing in the SEC, coming over here now,
01:23 how would you assess the talent level on this team, and
01:26 how did Saxon look with other teams you've been around?
01:28 >> We're different, we're different over here.
01:30 We got some guys, we got a lot of guys actually in the receiving room.
01:33 I mean, we obviously have Mike Penix, which everybody knows.
01:37 Mike threw a ball yesterday to Rome.
01:41 I ain't never seen nothing like it.
01:42 I'm talking about it looked like it just, ooh, ooh, ooh, sorry, sorry.
01:46 My bad, I hit my own self hard.
01:47 It looked like it just stuck to him, but I mean, we got so much talent.
01:52 Even on the O-line, we got Raj, Nate, Troy,
01:57 all those guys are doing a great job of blocking up front.
02:01 And then the defense has gotten a lot better.
02:03 They be putting us in little pickles sometimes, but that's a good thing,
02:07 cuz I feel like we have the best offense in the country.
02:11 >> With your knee, was that just wear and tear from last season?
02:13 >> Yeah, absolutely.
02:15 I had some issues last season.
02:17 Actually, that's when it happened.
02:19 I had a little surgery, minor little surgery during the season.
02:22 Last year, I came back kinda too quick.
02:25 And then I came down to Washington, and I wasn't all the way healed correctly.
02:31 So I had another procedure done.
02:34 But now I'm feeling great.
02:35 Like I said, they're doing a good job with getting me in.
02:38 I'm getting some reps, but
02:40 they want me to be ready for Saturday when Saturday comes, for sure.
02:42 >> [INAUDIBLE] >> Me and CD?
02:46 >> Yeah.
02:46 >> Yeah, I mean, I talked to CD when I first got here.
02:50 I'm here to help everybody, just like they're here to help me.
02:54 I told them their football IQ was way beyond mine.
02:59 Cuz when I first got here under Mike Leach, we didn't do as much motion and
03:04 stuff, we just ran a lot of mesh, a lot of swing routes and stuff.
03:07 Of course, you had to catch the ball, but this is a totally,
03:12 totally different ball game.
03:13 Coach Grubb does a great job of putting us in different scenarios and
03:17 different positions to show our complete skill set.
03:20 So I definitely would say me and CD are gonna be tough.
03:24 >> So what do you know about Washington country,
03:26 we're coming from a super offense to another super offense?
03:29 Is that the idea?
03:30 >> I mean, no, this here a little different.
03:34 This is a little different.
03:35 I think what Grubb and the staff and what they're doing is something special.
03:41 Like, people on the outside really can't understand,
03:46 won't really be able to understand fully how special this offense is gonna be.
03:51 Just because of, you just gotta be there.
03:53 I'm just gonna say, you just gotta be there to really just understand how
03:56 special this group is.