Allan Johnson Quotations

He had a sense of urgency. He knew his weight and body fat were too high for him to play a lot of minutes. He was carrying way too much weight. To his credit, he was committed to getting in better shape.

He is as self-motivated as you will ever see. That's what makes him a great role model for the young guys. He leads by example and is a great teacher. He has taken a couple younger guys under his wing like Doug Worthington , Lawrence Wilson , Ryan Williams and Todd Denlinger .

It has been a marked improvement with both aspects,

Marcus would come in at 6 a.m.. Then, he would go to his classes and then come back at night and go again. He would mix things up with the bikes or the climbers. He goes at least 30 minutes each time and often goes an hour.

We fly back right after the game, because being on the quarter system, we start school the next day. We get back at 4:30 in the morning (Tuesday).

I've never seen offensive linemen work out and condition like this group does.

The big thing with Marcus is his discipline. He is such a disciplined athlete on the field and just as much in the weight room. He is disciplined with his diet, too. He altered it and stayed committed to it. When you look at the evolution of it, it took a year and a half for him to get down to where he is now. He came into camp his freshman year at 348. Now, he always stays at a steady 290-295. To keep at that weight, that is hard to do for a big guy.

I mean, things have to fall into place and you have to be very lucky, but I'll tell you, to a man, I don't think there was any doubt that we weren't going to score on the last drive.

If you look at it, he dropped his body fat from 22 percent to 10.7 percent. That is a significant number. That is more than 11 percent. His waist was 46 inches and now it is 39.

I could not believe the development -- even that strip center. I don't remember even seeing that last time. It's phenomenal. When you have an event once every four years, it's hard to milk that. But they can brag that it was here.

The kids and their agents, they make those decisions, which is OK with us. But I also feel like we do a pretty good job with the guys who want to stay here.

These guys (the Irish) can light you up quick. Quarterback Brady Quinn can hurt you, and they have some weapons. But we have some weapons too.