Tracking proCanes - Bruce Johnson

proCanes.com is continuing our “Tracking proCanes” feature with former University of Miami and current New York Giants defensive-back Bruce Johnson. Johnson played in 42 games with 25 starts for the Hurricanes and finished his career with 69 tackles, 2 interceptions, 11 pass break-ups and 3 tackles for loss. Johnson signed as an un-drafted free-agent with the New York Giants in 2009 and has played in the Giants first two games of the season logging 5 tackles, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception returned for a touchdown in week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson is the cousin of former Hurricane cornerback and current Seattle Seahawk cornerback Kelly Jennings.

Bruce was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule after the Giants’ week 2 win against the Dallas Cowboys and in between signing a lease on a new apartment and preparing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to speak with us. Read below to see how he went from being an un-drafted free agent to returning a Tony Romo interception for a touchdown in week 2.
 
proCanes: So have you started to settle down in New York?
Bruce Johnson: Yes Sir. I just finished signing a lease yesterday for an apartment.
 
pC: Let’s start with after you graduated from the University of Miami, you were supposed to be the only Hurricane draft pick yet you ended up going un-drafted, talk about that.
BJ: It was a little nerve racking but I also knew anything could happen. I was just sitting there watching and I was a little upset but I sort of wasn’t. It just became more motivation for me when I got here [New York Giants] and when I got into Rookie Mini camp, OTAs, Mini Camp and Training Camp. I wanted to show them that I was supposed to be a draft pick and that’s been my goal ever since I got here. So far it’s been pretty good, but I still feel like I have a lot to prove.

pC: So you weren’t that surprised instead of you being the Cane sole draft pick it was Spencer Adkins?
BJ: I think that either one of us could have gotten picked up. Congratulations to Spencer, I really like how he got picked up in the draft. I’m not upset about it or anything. Stuff happens like that. I just had to take it and move on from it and that’s what I am doing now.

pC: I would assume you had a couple of teams to choose from in terms of signing a free agent contract.
BJ: I got a call from my agent and he told me that New Orleans, Tamp Bay and the Giants wanted to have me come in for a tryout. Then he called me back five minutes later and told me that the Giants wanted to sign me, so I took that and went with it and I’m here right now.
 
pC: Were you pretty confident that you were going to make the squad when you went up for Rookie Camp and OTAs?
BJ: I was pretty confident because that was my whole goal when I came up here. I had something to prove the whole time I was up here. No matter how many plays I made or what I did right I felt I had to improve even more. They don’t really give you feedback when you do a couple of things or you think you’re doing something good. That’s what has kept me going and kept me trying to do the best I can. I was trying to get a reaction, just to keep doing my best to get a reaction and see where I was. You know, you never get a reaction and I’m still trying to get a reaction [laughter]. That is what is still driving me to be the best.

pC: If you have a good day in practice they don’t tell you?
BJ: They’ll say something like ‘good job’ or you did this good, but it won’t be like they are praising you. There are certain guys who, I wouldn’t say have a certain leeway, but they may not have to worry about too much. I am trying to get to that point where they won’t have to call my name so much for certain things, and I can just go out there and play and do what I have to do. I ‘m progressing each day, I just have to take it one day at a time. Hopefully after a couple of years I can be that guy.

pC: What has been the toughest part about from going from college to the pro’s?
BJ: In college, I started for like my last two years and I played a lot before that. Coming in and being un-drafted and being on the bottom of the totem poll [was different]. You’ve got a guy ahead of you who’s got years of experience. I am just trying to prove what I can do. They already have their money invested in someone and penciled in as the starter, so the hardest adjustment was that I have to continuously prove what I can do. It was hard for me because I knew they had the guys in there that they probably wanted in there already, but just trying to show them and keep working because you never know what is going to happen week in and week out.  During mini camp and stuff like that you never know if you’re going to be cut or they’re going to bring somebody else in. I wouldn’t say it’s the worrying but just the fact that you could be cut the next week or even the next day.

pC: What was the one part of your game you had to work on?
BJ: The one part of my game I had to work on was just taking every receiver like they’re the best. In college you play a bunch of different teams and not every team you play is up to the caliber of Florida or Oklahoma. Every practice I went in, I had to approach every receiver like he was Randy Moss or T.O. [Terrell Owens] because everyone is good. Just staying focused on the receiver that I was going against and studying more was the main thing for me.

pC: You’re playing most in the nickel formation, are you playing more in the slot or the outside?
BJ: I’m playing on the outside when they have three receivers, so that’s not too big of a change from my UM days.

pC: Talk about having former Hurricanes Sinorice Moss, Kenny Phillips and Jeff Feagles there. How have they helped you being up in NY.
BJ: When I first got signed Sinorice called me and told me he was proud of me and just told me to come in and be ready to work. When I got there they took me in and showed me the ropes and they’ve been looking out for me ever since. I work against Sinorice almost every day. He doesn’t take it easy on me and makes sure I get good work, and I make sure he gets good work. He tells me that he’s proud of me and to just keep working hard and he’s going to work me. I talk to K.P. [Kenny Phillips] and he just tells me to keep doing what I’m doing and just make plays. When I first got here I sat down with K.P. and went over some of the coverages and formations and everything. Jeff Feagles is actually my mentor on the team and that’s pretty good. So, I just came and it was like I didn’t miss a step. Coming from the University of Miami they just took me in and showed me the ropes and they have been doing that ever since.

pC: I’m sure that helped your transition.
BJ: Yeah that helped my confidence a lot. Having those guys here was a big boost for me.

pC: Did you expect to play as much as you have in the first two weeks?
BJ: To be honest with you, this is what I came in to do. I didn’t know I was going to play this much, but I told myself that if I did get the chance I would make the best of my opportunity. I’ve been having my chance so every chance I get, I just make sure that I make the best out of it to help this team and help myself out as well.

pC: Week 1, you force a fumble and week 2 you have a huge pick 6. Talk about the pick 6 and how you played it and what you saw.
BJ: Basically during that whole play we were in a cover 3 coverage and Romo saw something in our defense and checked off. When he did that Antonio Pierce, the quarterback of our defense basically, checked off into a cover 2 and switched the whole defense around. I have to give props to him because if it wasn’t for him I probably would have been somewhere else that I wasn’t supposed to be, [laughter] so I give him a lot of props for that. When Pierce checked, it put me in a totally different mindset of how I had to play my coverage and what I had to do. Once I jammed the receiver and he was going in, I passed him off to the nickel back and once I was about to go to the other receiver I just see the ball up in the air and caught it and then all I was thinking was that I just have to get to the end zone before anyone touches me. That gave me a good opportunity to show my speed. Some people kind of questioned my speed around the combine so that was a great opportunity to show my speed. I was just making sure that I didn’t get caught before I got into the end zone.

pC: Talk about your transition of going up and living in New York.
BJ: When I first came up, it was my first time coming up to New York. To be honest with you, we’re based out of New Jersey, but I have been to the city and it is a lot different from Miami. You see a lot more people walking, there’s a lot of commotion. When they say that city never sleeps, they’re right, it’s always going. I had to get adjusted to that because I’m not used to taking trains, cabs or anything like that. Having all those people close together on the sidewalk walking by you, I had to get used to that because I didn’t like that at first. I really wasn’t used to that. I was used to having my own space and riding in the car and it was kind of funny to see people in business suits getting on buses and doing a lot of walking. When I see people in Miami in business suits they’re in nice cars and everything. It was sort of like a culture shock to me, but since I’ve been here I have sort of gotten used to it and I’ve been just trying to make the transition.

pC: Do you go to the city often?
BJ: I’ve been there a couple of times, but I don’t go too much.

pC: What’s your schedule like during a game week if you play on Sunday?
BJ: What it is, is we’ll play Sunday and then we’ll come in on Monday we might lift and basically we’ll watch some film of the game and we’ll be done by around 1 o’clock and then we have Tuesday off as well and then we’ll come back on Wednesday and that’s pay day, so we get paid on Wednesday. Then we’ll do some preparation from Wednesday until Saturday. Saturday we’ll go to our team hotel if it’s a home game or we leave on a plane to go to an away game. If it’s a late night game like this past Sunday, we’ll eat and have little meetings on Sunday if it’s an early Sunday game then we’ll do all that the night before.

pC: Who has helped you most in your adjustment to the Giants.
BJ: Pretty much all the DBs from the safeties to the veteran corners. Corey Webster, Aaron Ross, Terrell Thomas, Kevin Dockery all of them have helped me out a lot. There are no secrets everybody is trying to help everybody. I ask all those guys questions about certain plays so I can’t pinpoint one person and the coaches are very helpful as well.

pC: You’ve gotten a lot of playing time in the first two weeks because of injuries do you know what’s going to happen when people get healthy?
BJ: I’m just going with the flow right now, only time will tell. Until then, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing.

pC: Let’s Talk about the Canes right now, what do you think of their start so far?
BJ: Yeah man, they’re looking real good. I hate that they had to start when I left [laughter] but at least they started it. I’m glad to see those guys doing good because there are a lot of guys that I played with [on the team] so it’s good to see them playing well and being ranked in the top 10 right now. I hope that they can just keep it going just for themselves so they can have a better outcome when draft day comes.

pC: What do you think is the key to this week’s game against Virginia Tech?
BJ: As long the offense keeps clicking like they are and the defense keeps attacking, bringing that pressure and everybody keeps hitting I think we’ll be fine.

pC: What is the difference between last year’s defense, which you played on, and this year’s defense?
BJ: I feel like they have a lot of stability now. I think they have everything set and everything how they want it. With the coaches being set and being there for a while, that’s the big thing that they need and the players getting used to them and buying into the system and knowing what to do. Plus those guys have a lot of talent and putting the coaching and the talent together is a big improvement. Guys are also hungrier this year.

pC: Did you think Bill young was going to be there for a while?
BJ: As a matter of fact I did, but things happen and you just have to keep moving.

pC: You played in both the Orange Bowl and Land Shark Stadium. What’s the difference, did you miss the OB?
BJ: There will never be anything like the OB [Orange Bowl]. It’s tradition and it’s been with the Hurricanes for the longest. Whoever’s decision it was, we had to move and playing at Land Shark wasn’t bad, but you did miss the OB sometimes because you just had that feeling, the Orange Bowl voodoo. I did miss the OB but having a big screen too, was pretty nice. They both had their pro’s and con’s.

pC: You played under both Randy and Larry, how did things change?
BJ: Both coaches demanded greatness out of their players. I didn’t really see much of a difference. I don’t want to say they had different coaching styles but they both demanded greatness and perfection out of their players. They both wanted to win and I couldn’t really tell much of a difference between them.

pC: This week you’re going up against Kellen Winslow Jr. Any thoughts?
BJ: If I have to guard then I have to guard, just like anybody else.

We at proCanes.com would like to thank Bruce Johnson for being so gracious with his time to do this very insightful interview for our new feature "Tracking proCanes." Click here to check out our past interviews with Leon Searcy, Steve Walsh, Frank Costa, John Routh, Chad Wilson, Sinorice Moss, Twan Russell and more!