The Vanderbilt Commodores football team was the second to take the stage at SEC Media Days, led by head coach Bobby Johnson.

Johnson talked about the success of 2008 and helping Vanderbilt capture just their second bowl win in school history, and about living up to the expectations that will follow as a result heading into 2009.

Center Brad Vierling and cornerback Myron Lewis also spoke about maintaining that high level of play going forward into the 2009 SEC football season.

Head Coach Bobby Johnson

Q. Can you talk about how you go into this season with your quarterback situation, how you feel about that? Towards the end of last season you were playing several guys.

Bobby Johnson: Well, we played several guys because we had to. We were banged up a little bit at that position almost all year long. I think that proves that we have to have more than one available, know the playbook, know the game plan for that week, and be ready to go in.

The guys we have at that position, we have great confidence in. MacKenzi Adams has played a bunch of games for us, has some big wins. Larry Smith comes in late in the season last year and helps us win the Music City Bowl. Had a great game there.

We feel good about the quarterback position because we do have guys who have performed well in the past and we have a number of ones that we have confidence in.

We're not gonna decide anything that early. I think it would be crazy to tell a guy he couldn't have a chance to compete for a starting position when you start practice.

Q. A lot of seniors back on both your offensive and defensive lines. Do you think those will be positions of strength for this squad?

Bobby Johnson: We feel great about our defensive line. That's traditionally been a really tough position for us to gain a lot of depth in, ever since I've been in coaching, to tell you the truth. So we're very pleased, Greg Billinger, Adam Smotherman in the middle, played really well for us last year. Broderick Stewart, Steven Stone on the ends. We're going to have some people to push them.

Our offensive line was a real scary part of our pre season last year, but our guys stepped up. They were young, but they had some enthusiasm. We think those guys are going to be a year better experience wise, so we should be much better on the offensive line. And I think we'll be better at tailback. That's gonna make your offensive line better, too.

Q. Would you talk about how having a winning season and winning a Bowl game translates into success on the recruiting trail?

Bobby Johnson: Like I said I think every year I've been here, we have a fantastic product to go out and recruit with. We're a top 20 rated university. We play football in the SEC. We're in a great city in Nashville. Now you throw in the fact that we've had a winning season and we know what it takes to go to a Bowl game and win it, I think is an outstanding product to sell.

Right now, I think we're being received very well in the recruiting battles. We think we've recruited well the last two or three years. We're still gonna be in a position where we're gonna be in a situation where we have to probably project guys, like we did with Chris Williams. Came in at 240, goes out 325, first round draft pick. Earl Bennett comes in not heavily recruited, and ends up being the leading receiver in the history of the conference. Those things still have to happen. But we're much better on the food chain right now as far as recruiting is going.

Q. Your defense is pretty stacked for this year. You don't have D.J. or Reshard in the lineup. How have you looked to replace those two guys?

Bobby Johnson: D.J. was really an unusual football player. He was one of the best natural players I've ever seen. Reshard was a tough, hard nosed leader, big hitter in the secondary. Those guys are obviously tough to replace.

We think we got some guys who are ready to take over. Ryan Hamilton at safety I think is an underrated player. Made some huge plays for us last year, is really a great leader. Myron Lewis, that y'all will have a chance to talk to today, I think is one of the best cornerbacks in the country. He's big. He's over 6'2", almost 6'3", over 200 pounds. He can run, he's got great ball skills. I think he's really relishing the role of the returning big play maker. Hopefully he can continue to do that.

At safety, we got Sean Richardson, who made some big plays for us on the special teams and played some last year and is ready to step up and take Richard's place. Casey Hayward played for us last year as a true freshman and made some big plays in the Music City Bowl when D.J. was hurt and had to go out. Jamie Graham, who played wide receiver for us last year, we're gonna move him back to corner. We think he is a quality player and may be used in the same way we used D.J. last year, sometimes stick him over there on offense and throw the football, too.

Q. What do you see as the next step for Vanderbilt football? You talk about winning the Bowl game, having a winning season was the next step. Where do you go from here?

Bobby Johnson: Well, the key thing is to maintain our momentum and make sure that we're doing everything we can to give our guys a chance to win games.

The team, you know, has to make sure that they have their heads on right, they're working hard, know what it takes to get back to a Bowl.

You know, I think the sky's the limit for Vanderbilt, to tell you the truth. When we prove that we can win consistently, I think recruiting will pick up and we're going to have the same quality team that the top tier teams have in our conference. We expect to compete for championships. We were third in the East, fifth overall (last year). We think that's great progress for us. We can continue to make those kind of leaps and bounds, we'll be very pleased.

CB Myron Lewis

On winning the Music City Bowl:
"It brought excitement to the team. It put us on cloud nine. It was about being able to succeed and overcome obstacles. It had been 25 years since we had last made it to a bowl game. Being able to make it to a bowl game was a blessing and everybody is excited about it."

On playing on ESPN:
"Growing up watching SEC football, I always wanted to be there, so just being able to play on ESPN and major television is exciting."

On playing under Head Coach Bobby Johnson:
"Coach Johnson is a great coach. I love being around him. He recruited some great guys to help us win games. He is very understanding. He helped me so much in helping me make my decision to come to Vanderbilt, helping me learning the ins and outs of Vanderbilt University."

On Vanderbilt academics:
"You always have to have the smarts upstairs. Being much smarter helps you out with studying more film, carrying the film to the practice field and to the game. It definitely helps us out."

On Vanderbilt's defensive secondary:
"We have Casey Heyward, Jamie Graham, Eric Sanders, Trey Wilson, and Ed Foster. We have some great players coming in that Coach Johnson recruited. Having them come in and learn the system will help us out.

On being at the SEC Media Days:
"It's pretty fun. It's a new experience for me, being in front of everybody and all the cameras. It's exciting and I like it."

C Brad Vierling

On the offseason:
"This offseason has been successful. That really comes off the bowl game victory. Everyone's confidence is really high. Everyone wants to get better. Everyone wants to get to another bowl game."

On the SEC television contract:
"I grew up in Big Ten country, but I know that SEC football was covered a ridiculous amount just because I knew about the SEC. With ESPN picking it up, it's going to blow up. It's awesome. It's great for Vanderbilt's exposure. We're going to be covered all the time."

On the SEC:
"When it comes to bowl victories and national championships, the last three national champions have come from the SEC. We had nine SEC teams in bowl games this year. We always do very well when we're put on the stage against other teams from other conferences. I think that is why we're known as the best conference. In and out, the SEC is unbelievably competitive. You never know who's going to win that game. Like Ole Miss and Florida last year, who would have known Ole Miss would win that game? Everyone thought Florida would go undefeated. Florida was playing great, but Ole Miss beat them. It might be Vanderbilt vs. Florida this year. You never know. It's the best in the nation."

On Vanderbilt's team chemistry:
"We are very old. We're an older team now, which is weird for us because we've always been a younger team. Last year we were a younger team. We have a lot of seniors in the locker room. We have a lot of backups coming back, which is huge for us. It's always been Vanderbilt's story that we always start well but falter towards the end and that we never had enough depth. Now we finally have that. We have starters coming back and reserves coming back. We have backups pushing for starting spots. It's more competitive than it's ever been."

On Vanderbilt's recruiting:
"When it comes to recruiting with us, you take the top tier guys and look at the grades. The guys that can't cut it, you can't even look at them. They have to go out there and find that diamond in the rough, both for football and academics. They can't recruit like every school can. Their academic standards are not as high as they are at Vanderbilt. We are the only private school in the SEC. Vanderbilt has some of the best academics in the nation. If you don't go to the NFL, you have a Vanderbilt degree to fall back on and that's a great opportunity to have."

On Vanderbilt's offense:
"Right now we just changed to the no-huddle. I don't really know how to describe what we are. Whatever we did last year just wasn't working. We were one of the worst teams in the nation when it came to offensive production."

On Vanderbilt's offseason conditioning:
"We've been conditioning really hard this offseason. We're in the best shape this team has ever been in."

On Vanderbilt's quarterback situation:
"We'll see who comes out in that quarterback battle. They're all great players and we're excited about what all they can do."

On coming to the SEC Media Days:
"This is awesome. I like talking to the media. I like doing this. I like giving the media the players a player's perspective."

You can find the full Vanderbilt Commodores press conference transcript by following this link.

This article was provided by our friends over at www.SECSportsHub.com . Make sure to visit them for all your SEC news and coverage!